duty to inform spouse?

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I am a nursing student and I have to write a short essay on what to do given a certain situation. Here is the scenario: Woman is diagnosed with acute genital herpes; she does not want to tell her husband because she is afraid of making him angry. Okay, here are my thoughts... I know that it would be a HIPAA violation for the nurse to disclose personal patient information to the spouse, I understand that the patient is the first priority. However, does the nurse ever have the duty to disclose this to the spouse? If the patient has the potential of spreading this to others is it ever the duty of the nurse to disclose the information? I have been looking for the last several days and I cannot find a clear answer. I have read about HIPAA and confidentiality laws related to patient info. and I have also read about HIV laws regarding disclosure. Can someone explain to me the nurse's role in this situation, or direct me to where I can find this information? I'm almost certain that the answer is to never disclose the herpes diagnosis to the spouse...is this correct?

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I did a project on this topic way back in nursing school. I'm from Canada so the legalities are different, but I found a lot of information at sources like Public Health (do you have an equivalent organization?) or maybe even the CDC.

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You need to learn to play with google key words to bring back the info you need.

" must provider disclose to spouse sexually transmitted disease?"

This brought up lots to start for me. You may want to limit your timeline in your search so that your returned info is current, and you might find that you may add other qualifiers, etc. (not gonna specify that for ya :cheeky:)

Play with it and see how your return changes. It's a start.

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Also try google scholar, the information is mostly either journals, peer reviewed articles or abstracts on case studies try this and see if it brings up anything relevant 'sexually transmitted infections + patient spousal legalities'

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moving to Nursing Student Assistance Forum.

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Thanks everyone! I will continue searching with the advice you all have given :)

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Specializes in Pedi.

Some states have laws requiring partner notification with certain STDs. I am not sure if genital herpes falls under that list or if your state has such a law, but it is worth looking into. In my state, certain STDs must be reported to the Department of Public Health (or whatever your state calls it) along with the name of sexual and needle sharing partners. STDs are considered a public health issue and, in my state, the DPH typically takes on the role of notifying the partner in cases where it is warranted.

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My state is Indiana, and so far I have not found genital herpes on the list. I'll keep searching, but I'm starting to think that my first thoughts were correct in thinking that this info cannot be disclosed to the spouse by the nurse unless permission is giving by the patient. So I guess the nurse can educate the patient about the disease and hope that he/she decides to disclose the diagnosis to the spouse. I will keep looking until I'm confident in that answer :)

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Specializes in ER.

The nurse does not, the doc does have a legal obligation, as the PCP. STDs are reportable to public health, and they will take care of notifying all known contacts, but the wife would be wiser to confess personally IMHO.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Communicable Disease Reporting in Indiana

These two sites may help.

ISDH: Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.

The diagnosing physician is required to report certain infectious diseases to the public health authorities who will investigate and notify as appropriate.

The bedside nurse has *no role* at all in making such notifications... none.

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The diagnosing physician is required to report certain infectious diseases to the public health authorities who will investigate and notify as appropriate.

The bedside nurse has *no role* at all in making such notifications... none.

... and does so at his/her own peril.

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