Health Care Professionals and the Potential for Iatrogenic Transmission of AIDS: An Ethical Analysis (From The Meaning of AIDS: Implications for Medical Science, Clinical Practice, and Public Health Policy, P 152-162, 1989, Eric T Juengst and Barbara A Koenig, eds. -- NCJ-123590)

• NCJ Number: 123603
• Author(s): J J Glover; E C Starkeson
• Date Published: 1989
• Length: 11 pages
• Sale Source: Praeger Publishers
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The mandatory screening, disclosure, and isolation of health care professionals are not ethically nor medically required to help prevent the transmission of AIDS; health care professionals should comply with barrier techniques recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and educate the medical community and the general public about AIDS.

Abstract

The provision of medical care by health care professionals is not a recognized means of AIDS transmission. Mandatory screening of health professionals and subsequent disclosure create more problems than they resolve. Overall, the risk to patients of being infected by AIDS through health care professionals is still not sufficient to warrant infringement on their civil liberties. Screening to isolate clinicians diagnosed with AIDS or seropositive for HIV to prevent them from performing invasive surgical procedures may be a compromise health care professionals must accept. Although there is no evidence that AIDS has been transmitted in such a context, such screening and exclusion is a logical measure having public relations value. Such a policy does not require the general screening and isolation of all health professionals. 21 notes.