HIV/AIDS and confidentiality - Research Paper Example

HIV/AIDS and Confidentiality In most countries medical information is considered personal and confidential. Information related to HIV is very sensitive hence it needs more laws that provide protection to HIV medical records. Screening for diseases which are infectious among drug treatment patients is common but it gets complex when screening for HIV. There is an exception to the ethical and legal obligation to confidentiality of HIV-related information. Doctors in the US are required to report AIDS and HIV infections to health authorities considering the benefits of this outweigh individual risk.

These reports also include the name of the patient for concise epidermal information. However, because AIDS and HIV testing can bring discrimination if there is a breach in confidentiality, the CDC has recommended anonymous testing without name reporting continue to be offered. In some states, doctors are permitted to disclose HIV infected patient without legal penalty and sometimes disclose information to spouses warning them without informing the patient hence breaching confidentiality. Health care providers are ethically bound to do best to the patients interests and Confidentially informing the patient of all facts.

It is important for the health care provider to advise the patient on HIV testing and counsel the patient first. They also have an obligation to do extensive research on HIV (Pozgar, 2013). Other issues in caring of HIV-infected individual is telling the truth and dealing with patients close to dying. Health provider should honour the right to privacy and maintain confidentiality of patient information. It is therapeutic for the patient knowing that his HIV status is confidential and critical to the patients’ well-being.

There are a few areas of law which are relevant to health care providers. One of them is the protection and privacy of data collected to ensure an effective and fair public health information infrastructure. The law should review justifications of collection of data, air use of it and its security. Health information acquired require clear justification and reasons for collection of personal and confidential information by health authorities. Even if authorized collection is done the patient subject is entitled to know how it will be used and what purpose it serves (Gostin, n.d). The subject patients should also have access to all information related to themselves and be ensured the reliability of the data for the specific use.

Significant penalties apply if the information is not secure or breached .Accordingly; if the information is shared to a third party he or she would also be required to honour the privacy clause. This data could only be disclosed when it poses a health risk, surveillance or for the benefit of the patients and in that case the information should be of minimal sensitivity. The data collected also cannot be used in any other purpose except stated unless permitted by the patient. Law and ethics play a significant part in both societies and organisations especially in health care; they both share the goal of creating maintaining social stability (Beauchamp and Childress, 1994).

Ethics is defined as a set of guidelines or rules of what should be while laws are politically created rules imposed by authorities to govern people. Many times doctors prefer ethics because reflects what is right. Ethics provide a framework for those uncertain situations and plan of action focussing on the well being of the patient.ReferencesBeauchamp T. L an Childress J. F. (1994). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 4th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.Gostin, J.D. (n.d) Legislative Survey of State Confidentiality Laws, with Specific Emphasis on HIV and Immunization.

Retrieved from: http://www.epic.org/privacy/medical/cdc_survey.htmlLeslie E. Wolf, J. D and Bernard, L. (2001). Ethical Dimensions of HIV/AIDS. University of California San Francisco: Jones and Bartlett..Pozgar, G. D. (2013). Legal and ethical issues for health professionals (3rd ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.