(HIV) need help from an RN, ethics question

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Hi,

I am writing a paper for my nursing foundations class, and it is an ethical critique. The scenario is a patient who came in to the clinic, and gets a pregnancy test and it is positive. The patient starts crying and tells the nurse she is HIV positive and is afraid to tell her husband (baby isn't his, she doesn't want state to know, and refuses medical treatment to avoid transmitting HIV to the unborn child).

Question...I understand that each state has different laws that govern, but through my research so far I have only found what the nurse should do in the case of a positive HIV test. This patient did not have the HIV test done there, she is only claiming she is HIV positive (subjective information?). Am I bound to report her to the state just by her word? I know in my state (OR) it is required to report all cases of HIV to the state within 24 hrs unless tested anonymously. But she did not come to the clinic for an HIV test, and I am guessing because she knows her status, that somewhere she has already been reported/recorded as having HIV. I thought this was a strange scenario, because one of the questions I have to answer in my paper is: "HIV must be reported within 24 hours, what would you do?"

Could someone please help? =)

Thank you so much,

~J

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Specializes in Med-Surg, ER, Mental Health.

Hi there,

RNin2007, I'm also going to be an RN in 2007! ;)

I'm interested in your paper topic. I'm in Canada, and as far as I know at this point (I will be taking Nursing Ethics in September), we are not ALLOWED to report HIV status to the government, as it would violate patient rights and privacy laws. It would of course go into their medical record, but that is not something that the government would just be able to see at will...

I'm interested in seeing the responses to your posting.

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Hi there,

RNin2007, I'm also going to be an RN in 2007! ;)

I'm interested in your paper topic. I'm in Canada, and as far as I know at this point (I will be taking Nursing Ethics in September), we are not ALLOWED to report HIV status to the government, as it would violate patient rights and privacy laws. It would of course go into their medical record, but that is not something that the government would just be able to see at will...

I'm interested in seeing the responses to your posting.

Hello...looks like our calendars will look a lot alike for the next 2 years =). If I had more time I would like to research the rationale between reporting and keeping it confidential...those sorts of differences always are interesting to me. I am gonna be interested to see what kinds of responses I get too, lol..so far 50 lookers and barely a bite! =) I am hoping someone will have some input. We only meet once a week for this class, and my instructor only has one office hour per week and I've tried calling her and emailing...it's been three days and no response. She is awful about getting back to help her students. Sometimes I will wait 3 days for a reply and she never even answers my question. She has been nicknamed by a few classmates *the absent minded professor*...

Maybe if I ask again with sugar on top, I'll get some replies...lol, :)

~J

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Specializes in Educator.

your paper question is a bit confusing- HIV cannot be reported unless accompanied by test results. there is not a way to answer the question (as it is written) without stating this. the nurse cannot make a report based on subjective information. she might do some therapeutic communicationnand try to gage whether a test had been done or not. in the clinic i sued to work at, we ahd a number of people (male and female) who believed they were positive b/c they misunderstood results, they had a body fluid relationship with someone who was. etc- and when we did an HIV test, they were negative.

hope that helps

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Thank you for your reply...I agree that this question was worded wrong. I am sure that the instructor didn't intend that. This is only one small section of the paper that I have to write, and it makes it really hard to write the rest of it when I am that confused. Again, thanks!

~J

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