The consequences of disclosure: one hospital's response to the presence of an HIV-positive physician.

Abstract

Health care administrators are having to confront the many and complex problems associated with patient fears about the transmissibility of the HIV virus. Particularly acute are concerns that are raised when the physicians are HIV-positive or have AIDS. This article presents a case history of how one hospital handled the problems created by the announcement by one of its emergency room physicians that he was HIV-positive. The hospital's response--which included disclosure to the community, the full cooperation of the physician, provision of free counseling, and HIV testing--and the aftermath of this AIDS-related event are described. This case is discussed in relationship to the ongoing debate about the ethics and consequences of disclosure of the HIV status of health care workers.