14th Annual Conference of the British HIV Association 23-25 April 2008, Belfast

MEDICO-LEGAL AND ETHICAL IMPLICATIONS OF AN ACCIDENTAL HIV TEST WITHOUT CONSENT

HIV Med 2008; 9(Suppl. 1):11 (abstract no. P6)

K Mohanty
Darlington Memorial Hospital, Darlington, UK

A homosexual male attended the GUM clinic in Darlington for a full STI screen and after pre test discussion, he declined the HIV test. His partner was attending the GUM clinic at Newcastle upon Tyne and was HIV positive. Since he was from Newcastle he preferred to attend there and have the HIV test. The laboratory made a mistake in carrying out the HIV test which turned out to be positive. This is a common mistake. The problem was how to proceed to handle the case from this point onwards in view of medico-legal and ethical considerations. We sought advice from the GMC, Medical Defence Union (MDU), Legal department of the Trust and the matter was discussed in the North-East BASHH meeting. The view of the doctors at the BASHH meeting was that the patient has the right to know his positive HIV result and the doctor should share all the information about the patient truthfully. However the GMC and the MDU differed. There was no public health interest in this situation and the confidentiality was paramount. In a sensitive issue like this, information can not be forced on a patient who does not want it. Their advice was a two step method. First, tell the patient that the HIV test was done by mistake and whether he wanted to know the result. If he says 'No' the matter ends there. If he says 'Yes' call the patient and after appropriate counselling give the positive result. The Legal department of the Trust agreed with this.

CONCLUSIONS: In a situation where an HIV test is done without consent the advice of the GMC, MDU and the Legal Department of the Trust should be sought before taking any further step and the details should be recorded in the patient's case notes.

2008-04-23
P6

Copyright © 2008 - British HIV Association (BHIVA) Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the BHIVA Organising Secretariat 1 Mountview Court, 310 Friern Barnet Lane, London N20 0LD