David Zilberman
Title: The Social, and ethical implications of HIV testing
The mandatory screening for the HIV virus is a multifaceted issue that must be carefully examined from many aspects. In order to properly evaluate the benefits of mandatory HIV testing, ethical, legal, legislative, and socio-economic concerns must be considered and reconciled. Each of these aspects substantially affects people’s lives and their ability to fight this deadly disease.
The ethical aspects of this debate put two of the most cherished American values against each other: personal freedom against society’s collective well-being. An individual’s privacy is heavily guarded and protected by a myriad of legal statutes that withstood challenges from the U.S. Supreme Court. On the other hand, the public health policy is responsible for the well-being of the entire country and demands sacrifices from individuals for the good of all.
The legal challenges that arise from mandatory HIV screening include the appropriate handling and distribution of the results of the test. Strict legal protocols and procedures have been designed that must be observed by anyone that has access to HIV test results. These include health-care providers, medical staff, and health insurance workers. All of these mechanisms were put in place to avoid leaking the results without the individual’s consent. Violation or deviation from these protocols or procedures may result in heavy fines and legal actions against both the individual and the facility where the breach of the protocol occurred.
It is difficult to grasp that both the HIV virus and AIDS have been around for over three decades. Tremendous strides have been achieved in the fight to control this devastating disease. It is largely due to that fact that more and more people now live better lives after being identified as HIV positive. It is even plausible to say that the stigma associated with the disease has begun to ebb. The pandemic of the mid-nineteen eighties in our country and the later sudden surge of cases across the entire continent of Africa and several developing countries around globe had been stabilized. I believe that mandatory screening along with technological advances served as catalysts to curb this epidemic.
