Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.Is it the responsibility of the doctor, the nurse, or the husband?....
If a man with AIDS does not want to inform his wife and she later contracts the disease, what are the legal ramifications, if any, to the doctor taking care of the patient? Is all of the responsibility on the husband to tell his wife?
This is a tough question that has no clear answer. (I am starting with the assumption that the infected partner refuses to grant permission to the physician to inform the spouse of the partner's HIV status.)
If the HIV positive spouse says that there are no longer any sexual activity with the mate and if the physician judges that assertion to be honest and true, then the physician is under no obligation to tell the uninfected spouse. However, the physician should still attempt to convince the HIV positive spouse to share this informed with the mate.
However, if the physician to the best of his/her ability feels that an HIV positive spouse will engage in unsafe sex with any other individual (spouse or otherwise), then the physician should inform the at-risk partner over the objections of the patient.
This precedent comes from the psychiatric literature which states that the psychiatrist much break the bond of confidentiality if the patient presents a danger to another.
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