Confidentiality, consent and medical ethics

Confidentiality, consent and medical ethics features

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  The beginning of change: the 2010 CHIVA summer camp

  Following on from our issue looking at young people, in October, guest writer Bakita Kasadha talks to the organisers and participants in the UK’s summer camp for teenagers...

  From:  HIV treatment update

Confidentiality, consent and medical ethics news from aidsmap

• UK healthcare workers need better information and guidance on HIV criminalisation

  Support services for people living with HIV would benefit from better information and support around prosecutions for the sexual transmission of HIV, according to a report released yesterday by researchers from Sigma Research and Birkbeck College. The study explored ...

  07 March 2013 | Roger Pebody

• Scale up of HIV testing in Africa isn't leading to breaches in consent or confidentiality

  Efforts to scale up HIV testing in sub-Saharan Africa have not resulted in breaches of patient rights or the provision of poorer services, results of a study published in PLoS Medicine suggest. The authors examined whether practices relating to ...

  26 October 2012 | Michael Carter

• If people who need HIV drugs aren’t getting them now, why should the prevention benefit of treatment be the reason that the drugs become available?

  The issue of ‘treatment as prevention’ raises a number of ethical issues, Richard Ashcroft, professor of bioethics at Queen Mary University of London told the IAPAC Controlling the HIV epidemic with antiretrovirals evidence summit in London this week. He reminded the audience ...

  15 June 2012 | Roger Pebody

• ‘Treatment as prevention’ must not violate human rights, conference told

  The expansion of HIV testing programmes and the advocacy of universal testing and treatment of those who test positive as a means of prevention must not violate the human rights of target populations, the Fifth IAS ...

  21 July 2009 | Gus Cairns

• Asylum seekers should not be forced to take HIV test, say MPs

  The All-Party Parliamentary Group on AIDS have rejected the idea that mandatory HIV testing should be forced upon migrants and asylum seekers entering the UK in a report released today that damns current immigration policy as ...

  10 July 2003 | Edwin J. Bernard

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Confidentiality, consent and medical ethics news selected from other sources

• Michigan's HIV Testing Scandal

  In researching alleged 2011 Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) data breaches, investigative reporter Todd Heywood discovered that MDCH “secretly collected” personal information—names, dates of birth, risk categories, and other demographic data—on people (and their partners) who went to government grant-funded organizations for confidential testing. Heywood reports that the state is using the private information in civil and criminal cases against HIV-infected people who present a “health threat.”

  08 March 2013 | CDC National Prevention Information Network

• Uganda: Rights body opposes mandatory HIV testing

  The Uganda Human Rights Commission has opposed mandatory HIV testing as envisaged in the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Bill that is before parliament. The bill provides for routine HIV testing of victims of sexual offences, pregnant women and their partners, but the commission is of the view that the provision does not specifically state as to whether their consent is necessary - suggesting that testing would be mandatory.

  28 February 2013 | New Vision

• Uganda: Health Ministry Says HIV Testing Not Compulsory

  The Ministry of Health has today, Feb.26, come out to clarify recent media reports that all people seeking treatment from public health facilities across the country will be required to undergo mandatory HIV testing first.

  27 February 2013 | AllAfrica

• Marge Berer on Depo-Provera and informed choice

  From one perspective, a method that a woman need only renew once every three months was a gift. One injection four times a year and no fear of unwanted pregnancy. But the potential for abuse of this method was obvious from the beginning, and abuse there was, from paternalistic family planning providers.

  20 February 2013 | BMJ Group blogs

• Blue Cross Suspends Mandatory HIV/AIDS Drug Mail Order Program

  In response to consumer complaints and a class action lawsuit on behalf of HIV/AIDS patients in California, Anthem Blue Cross has agreed to suspend a program that would have barred patients from purchasing certain specialty medications at local pharmacies. Under the program, patients would have been required to obtain their medications by mail order, threatening their health and privacy according to the lawsuit.

  20 February 2013 | PR Newswire (press release)

• Uganda: Concern over mandatory HIV testing raised by civil society groups

  Civil society organisations in Teso, eastern Uganda have asked the government to go slow in its plans to commence mandatory HIV testing in public health centers across the country this year. more →

  18 February 2013 | Key Correspondents

• Leno bill modernizes California's HIV confidentiality laws

  SB 249 protects the privacy of HIV and AIDS patients while allowing the disclosure of important medical information under limited circumstances in order to better coordinate and transition care. The bill also updates the state’s confidentiality requirements for HIV tests to ensure that all existing and new testing types are protected.

  18 February 2013 | San Diego LGBT Weekly

• UK: Updated guidance on HIV transmission, the law and the work of the clinical team now published

  This document is aimed at those working in HIV medicine, especially clinicians, and aims to provide information and guidance on managing issues related to sexual transmission of HIV. It applies generic ethical and professional principles but with a particular emphasis on providing a confidential environment in which sensitive matters can be discussed. The guidance sets out the roles and responsibilities of health care professionals when caring for individuals living with HIV.

  13 February 2013 | HIV Justice Network

• 10 Steps to Choosing the Pharmacy That's Right for You

  Your pharmacist and pharmacy play a critical role in keeping you adherent with your meds, guarding against drug-drug interactions and advocating on your behalf. Take a look at these steps to finding a pharmacy that's just the right fit.

  12 February 2013 | The Body

• Physicians to be told they must treat HIV carriers

  Doctors do not have the right to refuse to treat patients, the Israeli Medical Association's ethics committee said yesterday, countering arguments in favor of doctors' discretion when receiving HIV patients.

  06 February 2013 | Haaretz

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