Mandatory Testing for HIV Virus

This paper will debate in favor of mandatory testing for the HIV virus (AIDS). Special emphasis will be placed on the effects that mandatory AIDS testing will have on the health care industry and also on the benefits that it will have in terms of preventing further spread of the disease. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) can be spread through four basic means. These are sexual intercourse, sharing intravenous needles for drug use, passing blood from one person to another, and from pregnant mothers to their unborn children (Tanne, 1987, p. 41). AIDS testing enables a person to know if he or she is infected with the HIV virus. This knowledge helps prevent the spread of AIDS because it makes it possible for people already infected with the disease to avoid sexual relations or the sharing of needles with others.

In spite of the obvious benefits of mandatory AIDS testing, the subject has created a heated controversy among leaders in the federal government. For example, President Reagan's secretary of education, William J. Bennett, once "called for mandatory AIDS testing of hospital patients and couples seeking marriage licenses, as well as prison inmates and people wanting to immigrate" (Monmaney & Wingert, 1987, p. 64). However, the surgeon general, C. Everett Koop, took a stance opposite to that of Bennett, claiming that "mandatory testing would not be a good public-health practice at this time" (Monmaney & Wi

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dents and mistakes feared by the opponents of mandatory AIDS testing. There are many ways in which mandatory testing for the HIV virus would have a beneficial effect for health care workers. For example, mandatory testing of each patient entering a hospital is important because the virus can be present in the human body without any outward symptoms being seen. This situation creates a serious risk for health care workers, because "if they're treating people who are infected but have not been tested and have no AIDS symptoms, they may not take the precautions that are vital to their own safety" (Tanne, 1987, p. 45). This problem is so serious that the American College of Surgeons has recommended that doctors use protective gear at all times during surgery, whether they know if the patient has AIDS or not (Tanne, p. 45). Mandatory AIDS testing in hospitals is also important because it enables health care workers to give more effective treatment to those patients who are carrying the virus. Theresa Crenshaw, a member of the Reagan administration's Commission on AIDS has argued this point, saying: "In order to give the best care to a patient who is HIV positive, a physician must know the patient's antibody status (Crenshaw, 1

Category: Medical - M