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From: IABF%SNYCENVM.BITNET@oac.ucla.edu (Amy Francis)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: (2403) Re: HIV Status Policy
Message-ID: <38329@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 24 Aug 90 13:50:28 GMT
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Note:	Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening.  Permission granted for
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Archive-number: 2411

I think your hospital is more advanced and I wholeheartedly agree with their
policy.  First of all, when an HIV infected person goes into the hospital and
it is well known that s/he is positive, you are treated markedly different.
My friend is HIV+ and when he was in the hospital for an abcess(sp?) he was
visited on the rounds by ALL the students ALL the time and he was treated as
if he was a bug under a glass.
Secondly, (actually it should be "primarily") you may not know that a patient
is HIV+ (the PATIENT may not even know) and if you treat ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE
as if they are HIV+ then you won't be adding your number to the unfortunate
masses that get infected because of ignorance.  Personally, if I were a patient
and someone came to draw blood from me and he didn't practice the utmost
caution (treating me as if I were HIV+) I would request another, more
responsible and informed individual, because if s/he is not taking precautions
with me, then he probably didn't take precautions with others who are infected
and don't even know themselves YET.

Besides all this it would help to not isolate HIV+ people and help reduce
prejudice, if only a little.