AEGiS-APPJ: An Ethical Analysis of the U.S. Immigration Policy of Screening Foreigners for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1990. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

An Ethical Analysis of the U.S. Immigration Policy of Screening Foreigners for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 5, no. 4 (Winter 1990): 145-56
Rupert E.D. Whitaker and Richard K. Edwards

In the public discourse about AIDS in the United States, remarkably little attention has been paid to the issue of screening immigrants. It would appear that the idea of controlling the spread of AIDS by excluding HIV antibody-positive aliens has met with at least tacit approval on the part of US public health authorities, many physicians, and the population in general. This issue merits considerably greater--and more detailed--discussion than has been undertaken to date. This article examines the logical and moral aspects of the screening policy. Furthermore, the authors consider the social consequences of identifying specific groups of people as the "carriers" of disease.
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APPJ905401

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