HIV testing: the legal balance between individual and societal rights.
Testing for the presence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibodies creates a legal conflict between the individual's right to autonomy and privacy versus society's right to control the public health. A body of laws exists to address these conflicting rights. These laws, however, must evolve so as to strike a better balance between what society has a right to know and the individual's right to personal autonomy and privacy. Appropriate statutes should recognize that a legitimate need may arise for a physician to disclose otherwise confidential testing data to the spouse and other intimate sexual partners of an HIV-infected patient.
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D015492:AIDS Serodiagnosis; D002140:California; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D008404:Massachusetts; D010344:Patient Advocacy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*