AIDS: Crisis in Professional Ethics

Do patients have the right to know their physician's HIV status? Can a dentist refuse treatment to an HIV-positive patient? How do educators determine whether to allow an HIV-positive child to attend school, and if they do, should the parents of other children be informed? Should a counselor break confidentiality by disclosing to a wife that her husband is infected with HIV? This collection of original essays carefully examines the difficult moral choices the AIDS pandemic has presented for many professionals physicians, nurses, dentists, teachers and school administrators, business managers, psychotherapists, lawyers, clergy, journalists, and politicians. In the workplace, problems posed by HIV and AIDS have led to a reexamination of traditional codes of ethics. Providing systematic and reasoned discussions, the authors explore the moral, legal, and ethical issues involved in the reconsideration of policies, standards of conduct, and the practicality of balancing personal and professional ethics. Elliot D. Cohen is Professor of Philosophy at Indian River Community College and Editor-in-Chief of the "International Journal of Applied Philosophy". Michael Davis is Senior Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Ethics in Professions, Illinois Institute of Technology.