Privacy Worry MayKeep HIV Patients From Therapy

Patients infectedwith HIV are often concerned about the confidentiality of their HIV-positivestatus.In

fact,some patientsare so worried that they will actually give up treatment to prevent the releaseof this

information,accordingto a report published in the August issue of AIDS Care.

Dr. KathrynWhetten-Goldstein and colleagues from DukeUniversity,Durham,North Carolina,studied

the confidentialityissues of 15 HIV-infected patients from rural North Carolina locations.They were divided

into groups designedto explore their attitudes toward,and experiences with,breaches inconfidentiality.

"The fear of abreach in confidentiality is' definitely affecting the care that HIV-infectedpatients

receive,"Whetten-Goldsteinsaid."Most studied patients had experienced or knew someone who had

experienced a breachin confidentiality."

"Two types ofbreaches occurred,"Whetten-Goldstein noted."The first was a moreobvious type of

breach.One examplewas a nurse who told her child that her patient was HIV-positive out of concernthat

her child would playwith the patient's child."

"The other typeof breach was more subtle,one that providers might not considerbreaches,"Whetten-

Goldsteinexplained."This type of breach involves providers talking about apatient's HIV status without the

patient's knowledgeof the interaction."

"The law allowsthe sharing of information between providers within the same institution,butpatient's

consent must beobtained before providers at different institutions can shareinformation,"she pointed out.

"Patients inthe study wanted providers to tell them when they are going to shareinformation with other

providers and why itis being done,"Whetten-Goldstein said."They also felt that providersshould be

punished when abreach occurs."

"However,becausepatients are often reluctant to seek legal action which may further exposetheir

status,they feltthat the system should regulate itself,"she added.Whether aHIV-infected patient agrees to other(not his)medical workers'sharing theinformation about his HIV status is one of the rights given by theconstitution.

A.Right

B.Wrong

C.Not mentioned