Mandatory AIDS Testing for Health Care Workers

When AIDS first became a public health concern in the early 1980's, there was an overwhelming silence among elected officials and government research facilities which failed to give proper attention to a disease thought only to affect homosexual men. Within a few years, it became evident that HIV was spreading like wildfire into all segments of the population, and it was finally recognized as a major public health threat after it began to spread into the mainstream population through tainted blood and heterosexual contact. Even then, the Red Cross decided to risk further infection rather than implement standardized but costly testing procedures to protect blood donor recipients from receiving tainted blood.

Perhaps there was a time when this disease could have been stopped, however, little more than a decade has passed, and we now see countless Americans dying cruel and painful deaths after becoming infected with the AIDS virus. When Ryan White became infected through a blood transfusion, a number of public health efforts were aimed towards educating the American people about the nondiscriminatory nature of the AIDS virus.

Regardless of the intended message or result, AIDS patients are still subject to harsh speculation by the American public, and AIDS patients continue to face discrimination and speculation for leading a lifestyle that made them vulnerable to contracting a highly stigmatized disease. Perhaps it still believed on some level that AIDS patients were selected by God to suffer the consequences of their "chosen" lifestyle.

Individuals diagnosed with the AIDS virus are frequently isolated and alienated by friends and loved ones. By implementing mandatory AIDS testing to health care workers and/or patients, we would only be propelling discriminatory practices among HIV patients.

Since we currently have no established guidelines or procedures regarding the role or reassignment of infected health care workers, a positive result would have little consequence other than to invite ridicule and debate into a life that has already been disrupted by the reality of the cruel disease.

Health care workers should already be taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves and their patients from transmission of communicable disease. The benefit of identifying someone at increased risk would be minimal and costly in terms of fiscal dollars and the morale of the medical community.

After learning about the slim chance of transmitting the AIDS virus (1 in 60,000) through medical procedures, I see no reason to subject health care workers to invasive medical procedures when they provide little consequence or benefit to society as a whole.

Unfortunately, the reality remains that a red ribbon makes more of a fashion statement than a social one. Maybe it is time to look for a cure instead of the source.