- Hello, Jeff -- Just got this from msn.com. I am not
a fan of forced testing. It sounds as though the government is going to
make HIV testing mandatory when you go to hospital or doctor's office.
I am not sure I like this at all. Health insurance companies get wind
of you postive result and insurance goes by by. IF you are changing companies
for any reason the postive test result will go with you?
-
- No, I don't like this at all. I think people should
have an option. Give people facts and let them decide. This is generally
my position on things. In the case of a rape, however, the victim has
a right to know HIV status of the rapist. However, generally, I am not
in favor of forced testing. Basically, that is what this is all about...
-
- Patty
-
- Government Wants Routine Screening
- For All Between Ages 13 And 64
-
- 9-22-6
-
- ATLANTA - All Americans between
the ages of 13 and 64 should be routinely tested for HIV to help catch
infections earlier and stop the spread of the deadly virus, federal health
recommendations announced Thursday say.
-
- The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said
HIV testing should become about as common as a cholesterol check. Nearly
half of new HIV infections are discovered when doctors are trying to diagnose
a sick patient who has come for care, CDC officials said.
-
- "We know that many HIV infected people seek health
care and they don't get tested. And many people are not diagnosed until
late in the course of their illness, when they,re already sick with HIV-related
conditions," said Dr. Timothy Mastro, acting director of the CDC's
division of HIV/AIDS prevention.
-
- "By identifying people earlier through a screening
program, we'll allow them to access life-extending therapy, and also through
prevention services, learn how to avoid transmitting HIV infection to others,"
he said.
-
- The announcement was hailed by some HIV patient advocates
and health policy experts. They said the guidelines could help end the
stigma of HIV testing and lead to needed care for an estimated 250,000
Americans who don't yet know they have the disease.
-
- "I think it's an incredible advance. I think it's
courageous on the part of the CDC," said A. David Paltiel, a health
policy expert at the Yale University School of Medicine.
-
- The recommendations aren't legally binding, but they
influence what doctors do and what health insurance programs cover.
-
- Some physicians groups predict the recommendations will
be challenging to implement, involving new expenditures of money and time
for testing, counseling and revising consent procedures.
-
- Some physicians also question whether there is enough
evidence to expand testing beyond high-risk groups, said Dr. Larry Fields,
the president of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
-
- "Are doctors going to do it? Probably not,"
Fields said.
-
- But the recommendations were endorsed by the American
Medical Association, which urged physicians to comply.
-
- "This is important public health strategy to stop
the spread of HIV," Dr. Nancy Nielsen, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based physician
who sits on the AMA's governing board, said in a statement.
-
- No consent form needed
- Previously, the CDC recommended routine testing for those
at high-risk for catching the virus, such as intravenous drug users and
gay men, and for hospitals and certain other institutions serving areas
where HIV is common. It also recommends testing for all pregnant women.
-
- Under the new guidelines, patients would be tested for
HIV as part of a standard battery of tests they receive when they go for
urgent or emergency care, or even during a routine physical.
-
- Patients wouldn't get tested every year: Repeated, annual
testing would only be recommended only for those at high-risk.
-
- There would be no consent form specifically for the HIV
test; it would be covered in a clinic or hospital's standard care consent
form. Patients would be allowed to decline the testing.
-
- CDC officials have been working on revised recommendations
for about three years, and sought input from more than 100 organizations,
including doctors, associations and HIV patient advocacy groups. The CDC
presented planned revisions at a scientific conference in February.
-
- Since then, the CDC has strengthened language on informed
consent to make sure that no one is tested without their knowledge, and
emphasized the need for doctors to provide information on HIV tests and
the meaning of positive and negative results.
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
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