After the Indiana HIV outbreak in 2015, Congress partially repealed the ban on needle exchange programs, providing funding for operations but not syringes.
AMA J Ethics. 2016;18(3):252-257. doi:
10.1001/journalofethics.2016.18.3.hlaw1-1603.
Concrete protocols for supporting trainees include convening team meetings, tracking bias incidents, collecting data, and initiating protective changes in culture.
AMA J Ethics. 2019;21(6):E513-520. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2019.513.
Wendy E. Parmet, JD and Claudia E. Haupt, PhD, JSD
Clinicians using governing authority to make public health policy are ethically obliged to draw upon scientific and clinical information that accords professional standards.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(3):E194-199. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.194.
The stigma associated with HIV has diminished with its spread among the heterosexual population and the development of effective treatments. This normalization may justify assuming a more traditional public health perspective about mandatory prenatal screening.
The legal definition of a patient and the corresponding duties of the physician have been debated in state courts for over a century, and many aspects of the question are still unresolved.