Health Care Professionals Group

Should medical doctors who are HIV+ be required to retire from medicine?

Also, should these doctors be required to tell their patients that they are infected, even though this would significantly decrease their medical business? Keep in mind that studies show a patient to doctor transmission is much more likely than a doctor to patient transmission. Only six known patients have been infected with the HIV+ disease from their doctor (all of which came from the same doctor). Opinions?

Public Comments

1. The HIV is transmitted through blood, so I don't see the relevance of telling the patients that you are infected. Also, the doctors should keep practicing medicine but never donate blood (obvious). What I don't understand is how come a doctor can be such an idiot that he gets HIV... I mean a doctor knows this stuff, right? We don't talk about countries in which doctors buy their diplomas from private colleges, we're talking about the US, right? And yes, the doctor who gave HIV to those six patients should retire, as he must have done something that made the virus spread on his patients.
2. I don't think they should be forced to retire. With as clean and sanitary as doctors have to be...I mean, he has to wear gloves all the time. He has to use hand sanitizer all the time...how is a patient going to come into contact with his bodily fluids? And like you said, patient to doctor transmission is more likely because a doctor could get poked with a needle or the patient could spit up blood into a doctor's eyes or an open wound. I also don't think he should have to tell his patients. Maybe if he were doing a procedure where it was possible it could be transmitted (if there are any). It's not like he's having sex with them. If there is no risk for the patient, the doctor telling would just be an invasion of his privacy.