Selected topic must be of relevance/pertinence to the health professional/health law - Essay Example

Body Piercing Practice Body Piercing Practice People from different sociological and economical backgrounds have been involved in body piercing activity. While some people do this for religious reasons, the increasing adoption of the act for aesthetic reasons is alarming. Within the US setting, the practice is increasingly gaining popularity among youths and even children - a culture that needs rapid legal intervention (Laumann & Derrick, 2010). While the United States is a technologically advanced nation, with arguably the best medical care programs in the globe, the body piercing exercise is mainly conducted through informal procedures involving quack practitioners thus subjecting the clients to risks of contracting contagious diseases.

This paper reviews a possible legislative transformation to monitor body piercing methodologies. In my research on the subject, I noticed several legal lapses that need rapid insight as outlined.While the aspect of body piercing is not retrogressive, the manner in which the procedure is accomplished needs rapid intervention. Through the informal trial-and-error setting in which the procedure is accomplished, many subjects to the piercing exercise have developed serious secondary complications.

These include infections, persistently painful scars, and spread in blood and borne infections. Indeed, unsafe body piercing procedures are touted as factors in the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic (Jurgens et al., 2011). In the current setting of the Federal States of New York and Arizona, the body piercing exercise is under negligible regulation, with the practitioners neither qualified nor licensed to accomplish the procedures. Keen analysis of the practice further reveals that basic aseptic techniques, such as skin cleansing during the operation, are never carried out.

As such, the germs and other microbes on the skin surface are easily facilitated to move into the body where they are likely to spur massive antigen-antibody reactions thus risking patient lives. Moreover, there is a concern that despite the establishment of piercing studios within Arizona, such studios are hardly inspected. Despite, the presence of well stipulated guidelines against sharing of piercing equipment, and performance of the procedure on minors though such guidelines is hardly followed within the states (New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, 2008).

Neither is sterilization of the piercing equipment conducted as per the WHO guidelines.Based on medical reports by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), there have been increasing cases of Hepatitis C, not just within New York but across the globe. The report further relates the spread of the deadly virus to uncontrolled piercing and tattooing exercises, which provide secondary routes for the disease. The gravity of the Hepatitis C case is further highlighted by the report which cites 16,500 cases in 2011, with an annual increase of 1229 new cases.

To curb the menace, the CDC report categorically outlines prevention of needles-stick injuries, reduction of cross contamination and administration of Hepatitis B vaccine as ideal control steps (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Sadly, such legislative guidelines are hardly followed in American settings.In summary, the current practice of body piercing and decoration is far below the required health standards. The practice hardly confers to the stipulated aseptic guidelines, and is also not in alignment with constitutional outlines.

Moreover, the increasing delivery of the service to minors is totally unacceptable. Therefore, I would like to appeal to all stakeholders in the health sector, and the regulatory bodies to come together and fight against this developing trend.References Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2014). Recommendations for prevention and control of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection and HCV-related chronic diseases. US Department of Health and Human Services. Retrieved from: www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR4719.

pdf Jurgens, R., Nowak, M. & Day, M. (2011). HIV and incarceration: prisons and detention. Journal of the International AIDS Society. Retrieved from: http://www.jiasociety.org/content/14/1/26 Laumann, A. & Derrick, A. (2010). Tattoos and body piercing in United States: a national dataset. American Academy of Dermatology Inc. Retrieved from: http://www.bxscience.edu/ourpages/auto/2010/5/13/44313724/TATTOOS.pdf New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (2008). Health standards and recommendations for tattooing. nyc.gov.

Retrieved from: http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/hany/tattoo-manual.pdf