Abstract
Forty million people worldwide are infected with the HIV virus. About six percent of them will not inform their intimate partners about their health condition. Many efforts that have been made over the past decade towards establishing a HIV/AIDS law, have finally paid off. The act of disclosing the virus was written in 1990. It caused quite a stir among the citizens of the United States. Many people concluded that there were holes in the disclosure law concerning HIV/AIDS because it lacked complete thought. Some felt that if HIV positive people had to tell others about their condition, they would be more susceptible to discrimination and rejection. Essentially, it was a law that ended a few problems and then led to a massive predicament.
As the HIV virus pandemic arose, so did the voices of a plethora of distinct individuals- victims who were infected with this life long curse. However, these victims were unaware of their intimate partner’s sickly condition. In this case, the partner failed to disclose that he/she was HIV positive. As a result, in 1990, the tables started to turn. The victims, who were unaware of the risk they were taking with their partner, finally became the center of attention. (Wallace, 2005) Since 2004, in California, it has been considered a felony when the infected person recognizes that he/she is HIV positive, when he/she has not informed his/her partner, and when he/she intends to pass it on. (California department of Health Services, 2004) Even though the establishment of the law was based on good intentions for the sake of potential victims, problems were solved as new ones began. Some people support the law because it benefits the partner who is at risk. Others in society argue that the la...
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Cline, R., & McKenzie, n. (2000). Dilemmas of Disclosure in the Age of HIV/ AIDS: Balancing
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http://www.smh.com.au/news/National/Case
Even after the disease and its modes of transmission had been correctly identified, fear and ignorance remained widespread. In the mid 1980s, “AIDS hysteria” became a well known term in the media and public life. For example, a magazine published details about how extensive AIDS/HIV related discrimination became. “Anxiety over AIDS in some parts of the U.S. is verging on hysteria,” the authors wrote; they later published this disturbing example:
In 1973 the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Roe V. Wade. Jane Roe was a single mother trying to raise one child on a limited income. She was living in Dallas Texas when she became pregnant with another child. There were no medical issues that would have prevented her from carrying this child to full term. The lack of income and already having a child was her deciding factor.
Today, there are so many legal dilemmas dominating trial for the courts to make a sound legal decision on whose right in a complicated situation. Despite the outcome of the case, the disagreement usually has a profound effect on the healthcare organization, and the industry as a whole. Many cases are arguments centered around if the issue is a legal or moral principle. Regardless what the situation maybe, the final decision is left to the courts to differentiate between the legality issues at hand opposed to justifying a case based on moral rules. According to Pozgar (2012), an ethical dilemma arises in situations where a choice must be made between unpleasant alternative. It can occur whenever a choice involves giving up something good and suffering something bad, no matter what course of action is taken (p. 367). In this paper, I will discuss cases that arose in the healthcare industry that have been tried and brought to justice by the United States court system.
...easures. In 1990 HIV-infected people were included in the Americans with Disabilities Act, making discrimination against people with AIDS for jobs, housing, and other social benefits illegal. Additionally, the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act established a community-funding program designed to assist in the daily lives of people living with AIDS. This congressional act was named in memory of a young man who contracted HIV through blood products and became a public figure for his courage in fighting the disease and community prejudice. The act is still in place, although continued funding for such social programs is threatened by opposition in the U.S. Congress.
In the modern era, the use of computer technology is very important. Back in the day people only used handwriting on the pieces of paper to save all documents, either in general documents or medical records. Now this medical field is using a computer to kept all medical records or other personnel info. Patient's records may be maintained on databases, so that quick searches can be made. But, even if the computer is very important, the facility must remain always in control all the information they store in a computer. This is because to avoid individuals who do not have a right to the patient's information.
(Allen et al., 2000) The Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a clinical situation that requires the ethical principle Justice to be implemented. AIDS can be transmitted by sexual activity, intravenous (IV) drug use, and passed from mother to child. Due to the judgments and fears from the general population and some healthcare professionals, patients who have this disease may find themselves suffering from discrimination in many ways of their lives. This discrimination comes from the stigma placed by the factors in which AIDS is mainly spread. These factors are poverty, homelessness, illiteracy, prostitution, human-trafficking, which create the labels like the “drug user” or “homosexual”.
"Demanding that life near AIDS is an inextricably other reality denies our ability to recreate a sustaining culture and social structures, even as we are daily required to devote such time to the details of the AIDS crisis." -Cindy Patton
Roe v Wade is a famous trial that made abortion within the first trimester of pregnancy legal nationwide. The final jurisdiction of the trial took place in 1973, a time when women had to fight especially hard for their rights and freedoms. The Supreme Court looked at three different cases, all centered around abortion. The parties included plaintiffs Jane Roe (Norma Leah McCorvey), husband and wife John and Mary Doe (David and Marsha King), and Dr. James Hubert Hallford; the defendant was Texas in all three cases (Pan). At first all of the issues were heard in Texas courts, and eventually all taken to the Supreme Court. Roe went to court because she believed that the state of Texas was infringing upon her personal rights to get a safe clean
Medical records and their contents have been an important issue concerning privacy for physicians and their patients. A health care reform bill which passed legislation in 1996 is known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) had a new rule put into place in 2000, which requires health care physicians and insurance providers to put into place new procedures that would guard patient health information ("Patient Privacy and Confidentiality", 2013).
, findings have implications for designing and implementing interventions supporting women with HIV disease in disclosing their HIV status appropriately, particularly to their spouse and children. In the long run, self-disclosure may help decrease depression and improve quality of life among HIV-infected women living in limited resource settings. A referral for a personal counselor and a family counselor would be beneficial for Keishea and her family.... ... middle of paper ...
Case 16 This case presents a very delicate situation that presents many legal and ethical questions. Do you tell your brother or partner he has HIV? I would tell my brother, but the how and when, may vary based on circumstances. From a professional ethical standpoint, it would be unethical to disclose the patient’s HIV status without consent.
The documentary The Announcement was mostly about the era in which Magic Johnson lived and explained how HIV victims were perceived at the time (2012). America had a "plague" scare about AIDS in the 1980s when all this broke out which really a great deal to make people reflect on their "free-wheeling" sexual ways and social interactions and relationships. Today in 2014, people are still advised to talk openly with potential sexual partners and even get tested before having sex because AIDS is still very much alive and well in the world and in America. The documentary dived into social factors and also the stigma and ignorance that to this day persists whenever HIV issues arise. The documentary attempts to pull apart some of the fear and reality that Americans have about this disease of the immune system (2012). The stigma of AIDS patients and HIV positive people still exists but armed with knowledge America can all move ahead with a positive approach and not go alienating the very ones who Americans may know or love and who need them the most. In the early years of this disease people Americans were dieing because Americans knew so little about this disease, but now Americans know a great deal and people are living fairly normal lives because of certain treatments. A lot of credit should be given to Magic Johnson for this.
Disclosure of HIV status has various benefits. This is particularly clear in a study “The paradox of public HIV disclosure” (Paxton, 2002), which recognises the benefits of disclosing HIV status, not only prior to sex, but publicl...
In many societies people living with HIV and AIDS are often seen as shameful. In some societies the infection is associated with minority groups or behaviours, for example, homosexuality, In some cases HIV/AIDS may be linked to 'perversion' and those infected will be punished. Also, in some societies HIV/AIDS is seen as the result of personal irresponsibility. Sometimes, HIV and AIDS are believed to bring shame upon the family or community. And whilst negative responses to HIV/AIDS unfortunately widely exist, they often feed upon and reinforce dominant ideas of good and bad with respect to sex and illness, and proper and improper behaviours.
If a person is HIV positive, I believe that it is everyone’s right to know so that they can be safe from cold-hearted people who don’t want to reveal having it. Luckily a female student at Si Tanka-Huron University in Huron, South Dakota didn’t contract the disease, from her boyfriend who did not inform her that he was HIV positive, before the two of them proceeded in unprotected sexual intercourse. His name is Nikko Briteramos and he was sentenced for having sex with his girlfriend without revealing that he had HIV. Their was justice this time with the girl being HIV negative but the next time someone unprotected sex with someone that they do not fully understand their sexual background might not be so fortunate (Anonymous 39). It is instances like this one why I believe that there should be some type of tattoo or something to let people know that someone is HIV positive so that there will not be any suspicions of a mate lying about not having HIV. The tattoo can be permanent or temporary(for those diseases that are curable).