Disclosure of HIV Information

• Pages: 10-12

Contenidos

• The Issue.
• Legal and Policy Considerations.
• Practice Examples.
• References.

Page 10

The Issue

Disclosure of information about HIV can reveal intimate details about an individual's health status and other personal information that an individual may wish to keep private. Disclosures of HIV status can damage the privacy of persons living with HIV or AIDS and have other negative consequences such as stigma, discrimination, violence, and social isolation. Disclosure may also lead to serious economic harm, including loss of employment, insurance, or housing. On the other hand, disclosure of information about HIV may be required for public health surveillance, for the provision of appropriate medical care, and for certain nonhealth purposes such as law enforcement or insurance. Hence, countries need to develop laws and policies that balance the need for disclosure of HIV information with the protection of the privacy and autonomy of individuals with respect to their HIV status.

Legal and Policy Considerations

Privacy refers to the right of individuals to limit access by others to some aspect of their person, including health information. Privacy claims are rooted in the ethical principles of autonomy and dignity. By comparison, confidentiality extends privacy protections to special relationships, such as those between health care professionals and their patients. Privacy and confidentiality protections, as well as security measures and other laws that control the use of health data, frequently restrict the disclosure of HIV information and may provide for penalties for those who disclose HIV information without authorization or otherwise fail to comply with HIV privacy and security requirements.

The scope of limitations on disclosure of HIV test information and who is subject to these restrictions varies considerably across countries, with some countries having very robust privacy protections in place and others not providing significant privacy protections in law or practice.

A typical approach taken by many laws is to establish a default rule that the privacy of HIV information should be protected and only disclosed under specified circumstances. Beyond these specified exceptions, disclosures of HIV information, whether intentional or negligent, will constitute a breach of privacy and may result in civil liability, criminal penalties, or other serious sanctions, such as suspension of medical license.

Laws and policies that...