NCJ Number
105893
Editor(s)
C Levine,
J Bermel
Date Published
1986
Length
36 pages
Annotation
Five papers discuss how society should respond to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), an incurably fatal transmissible disease, in an era when individual liberties and minorities' rights are emphasized in law and ethics.
Abstract
The opening paper traces how the U.S. courts have balanced public health and liberty concerns from the early 1800's through the current AIDS crisis. The paper concludes that the latest trends in judicial decisionmaking have only sharpened the conflict without achieving a lasting balance. Another paper examines the legal and ethical issues associated with mandatory physician reporting of AIDS cases to public health authorities. The issue is found to be rooted in political and social conflicts rather than in scientific or technological issues. Other papers consider the pros and cons of isolating AIDS carriers, the limits of compulsion in controlling AIDS, and the benefits and obstacles various moralities pose for the constructive addressing of AIDS and its consequences, particularly regarding attitudes toward homosexuals. On scientific, legal, or ethical grounds the papers generally reject screening, reporting, isolation, and quarantine. They call for carefully planned prevention programs that are attentive to both the right of the public to be protected from AIDS and the right of AIDS patients to privacy and humane treatment. Report references.