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From: rhc@PacBell.COM (Robert Cohen)
Newsgroups: sci.med.aids
Subject: Re: HIV Status Policy
Message-ID: <38340@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
Date: 24 Aug 90 18:49:05 GMT
References: <38187@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <38271@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> <38314@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU>
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Reply-To: rhc@PacBell.COM (Robert Cohen)
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Francisco, CA
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Approved: ddodell@stjhmc.fidonet.org (David Dodell)
Note:	Copyright 1990 by Daniel R. Greening.  Permission granted for
Note:	non-commercial reproduction.
Archive-number: 2413

In article <38314@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> jay@banzai.PCC.COM (Jay Schuster) writes:
->In <38271@shemp.CS.UCLA.EDU> brugler@cis.ohio-state.edu (Dale P Brugler) writes:
->>I beleive that the medical workers in a hospital should be informed if
->>a patient is HIV positive.
->
->>However, in 3 major hopsitals in my city
->>(Columbus, Oh) it is policy that workers not be informed if a patient
->>is positive.
->
->The main hospital here (Medical Center Hospital of Vermont) is on
->Universal Precautions.  As I understand it, this means that you are
->to assume that everyone is HIV/HepB/place-favorite-blood-borne-
->disease-here infected.
->
->>The purpose of such policies are to make all personel cautious with everyone.
->
->>I disagree with such a policy. If I am sent to a room to draw blood
->>from a patient, I want to know that there is a chance that I could be
->>infected.
->jay@pcc.COM writes:
->The problem seems to be that you and other people want to know so
->that you can be *more* careful with the infected patient.  The
->hospital doesn't want to test everyone, or deal with the liability
->in the case of a messed up test, or deal with the privacy issues
->involved (once everyone in your town knows that you are HIV positive,
->you will get treated very differently -- and although that stuff
->is *supposed* to be private, medical staff tend to blab more stuff
->than is necessary most of the time, from personal experience).

Don't forget that someone may be infected and able to tranmit the 
virus _without testing positive on the antibody test_.  There is always
the chance you could be infected if you don't take precautions, regardless
of whether someone has been tested.  I understand why medical professionals 
want to protect themselves, but the safest policy seems to be universal 
precautions.  

There is still rampant discrimination around this disease in this country.
Until that changes, disclosure of HIV infection will continue to be a
civil rights issue as well as a medical one.

Take care,

-- 
  
Robert Cohen San Francisco, California 		rhc@PacBell.COM
{att,bellcore,sun,ames,pyramid}!pacbell!rhc
work:  415-542-5517   home: 553-4033