AIDS: Detection and Control

MELISSA GILLESPIE

ABSTRACT

The author undertakes an analysis of AIDS as it relates to the issues of confidentiality and mandatory testing. The conclusion reached is that to best serve the needs of both society and those individuals infected with AIDS, mandatory testing should not be undertaken except in certain exceptional circumstances, and further, AIDS test results should be accorded maximum confidentiality. The author argues that AIDS is best controlled by encouraging high risk groups to voluntarily submit to testing. This is desirable as it is widely accepted that the currently used method of testing for AIDS is highly inaccurate in large heterogeneous population groups. Thus the greater the guarantees of confidentiality are respecting AIDS test results, the more willing high risk groups will be to submit to testing, and accordingly the more accurate will be the detection and ultimate control of the spread of AIDS.

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Citation: (1989) 47(2) U.T. Fac. L. Rev. 354.
Copyright © 1989. University of Toronto Faculty of Law Review.
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