AIDS and the duty to warn.
Patients who are diagnosed as having AIDS or as having a positive HIV test have created a dilemma for treating physicians. A physician's duty of confidentiality to the patients is in direct conflict with the duty to warn spouses and other contact persons. This article examines the conflict that physicians now face.
D000163:Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome / Q000635:transmission*; D002140:California; D003142:Communication; D003219:Confidentiality / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D009820:Ohio; D010819:Physician's Role; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases; D012941:Social Responsibility; D014342:Truth Disclosure; D014481:United States