title: HIV-related practices and ethics--survey of opinions in a paediatric department.
abstract: Seventy-five doctors working in an academic paediatric department each completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Questions were posed relating to the need for consent before human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing and the informing of sexual partners of HIV-infected mothers. Only 9% of the doctors thought that the sexual partner of an HIV-infected mother should never be informed if the mother refused to do so. Sixty-one per cent of the doctors thought that pre-test consent was never necessary when screening hospital admissions. This opinion conflicts with the view of the South African Medical and Dental Council that pre-test consent is mandatory.
authors.affiliation: Department of Paediatrics, Baragwanath Hospital, Johannesburg.
authors.forename: I R
authors.initials: IR
authors.lastname: Friedland
mesh_terms: D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D015658:HIV Infections; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D033282:Parental Consent; D010372:Pediatrics; D013019:South Africa; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires