Persons Living With HIV Face Discrimination in Healthcare: Barriers to Access - Essay Sample

Introduction

The most critical aspect of controlling the HIV epidemic is gaining access to healthcare. However, persons living with HIV continue to face an increasing rate of discrimination in the healthcare sectors. Such attitudes from the health care professionals would result in discrimination, thus barring the people living with HIV from accessing health care facilities (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015). Such biases may manifest in several ways, including the refusal by the health care professionals to treat or admit patients who are infected or rather perceived to have HIV infections. In the context of HIV treatment, the consent of the patient needs to be sought before such interventions are made.

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Anti-discrimination laws need to be passed, which discourages the refusal to treat HIV positive persons because of their status. The healthcare professionals should begin by establishing whether such refusal to treat HIV positive patients is prohibited under the anti-discrimination laws of the affected countries (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015).

The Significant Exposures to HIV/AIDS

HIV infections can spread through sharing human organs and tissues. Blood transfusion accounts for a higher percentage of HIV transmission. The most significant exposures to HIV include blood transfusion, organ product, and unprotected sexual counters with infected persons, among others (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015). A significant percentage of HIV caused as a result of blood transfusion and body organs has been linked with the violation of the blood and tissue laws that prohibit the dissemination of unscreened blood to patients. Such negligence pre-exposes patients to HIV infections. Countries should develop and foresee the implementation policies and regulations that are solely aimed at safeguarding against the significant HIV exposures.

Methods of Disclosure

Individuals who are aware of the HIV status of an infected person are ethically obliged to protect them from engaging in practices that could spur the spread of the infection within the society, such as engaging in sexual contacts and injection with drugs. However, the disclosure of the HIV information about a patient could reveal some intimate details about a person which he or she may wish to keep anonymous. Such exposure could damage the privacy of the persons living with HIV aids within society (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015). It could also result in other negative consequences such as stigmatization and violence, discrimination as well as social isolation. Furthermore, the disclosure may also cause severe economic harm characterized by loss of employment and insurance, et cetera. Therefore, countries should develop laws that strike a balance on the need to disclose information about HIV patients within society.

Privacy relates to the right of people to limit access of others to some aspects of this person, such as health information. The scope of such limitations varies from one country to another. However, one fundamental approach that could be taken by many laws is the establishment of rules and regulations that provide for the protection of the HIV information about a patient and that it should only be revealed under prescribed circumstances (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015). The disclosures of such information may fall under three major groups, including; mandatory disclosures, disclosures requiring consent as well as discretionary disclosures.

Confidentiality

The confidentiality of the HIV patient could be compromised if the information about his or her status is revealed to a third party such as an employer, clients, co-workers, et cetera. Persons living with HIV have a great incentive to ensure that their situation is kept confidential to avoid unfair treatment of the employers as well as any forms of discrimination and stigmatizations that could arise from their co-workers (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015).

Therefore several laws and regulations that prohibit the disclosure of HIV status without the patient's consent could protect the patient from any potential stigmatizations at the place of work. Several laws may help in the protection of confidentiality of the patient at the workplace. The rules could limit the access of such information to the parties that need to know such information due to administrative purposes.

Clinician Immunity From Prosecution

The routine care and treatment of HIV positive patients is the most significant way of ensuring that the patients keep healthy. Clinicians are tasked with testing and treatment of the affected patients within the society. The health care providers such as clinicians also play a significant role in sharing with the patients the best practices that could be adopted to reduce the likelihood of HIV infections within the society. However, the clinicians need to be protected under the law by ensuring they are immune to prosecutions in any legal proceedings (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015).

Testing of Pregnant Women

A pregnant woman could transmit HIV to the unborn baby during childbirth, as well as during breastfeeding. In case of a lack of interventions, the mother-child transmission of HIV contributes a significant percentage of the pathways for HIV transmission within the society. Countries should put in place robust measures in which the interest of the fetus could be considered separately from the mother's (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015).

Even though mother-to-child transmissions are reduced due to the effectiveness of the antiretroviral drugs most health care workers and policymakers champion against compulsory testing for HIV patients, one of the reasons for this take by politicians is that mandatory testing would discourage the women form undertaking such similar trial in the future (Strathdee, Beletsky & Kerr, 2015). Most importantly, laws should be put in place that guarantee the confidentiality of the results obtained from such testing and that they may not be used against a law court or any legal proceeding to challenge the child's custody.

References

Strathdee, S. A., Beletsky, L., & Kerr, T. (2015). HIV, drugs and the legal environment. International Journal of Drug Policy, 26, S27-S32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.09.001