Legal Issues in AIDS
Introduction
HIV/AIDS is a
disease like any other disease and is like many other health issues in the
modern society. When this disease was uncovered, it started with a cloud of
anxiety and fear due to the fact that, at first, people did not know how this
disease is passed from one person to another. When people came to know that the
disease is infectious, that it was potentially deadly, and that there was no
cure, people became more afraid. This caused more discrimination and stigma against
individuals who were already infected. As a reaction, health officials put a
lot of efforts to provide adequate and accurate information related to the disease.
They provided people with information on what the disease was and what it was
not, how it is transmitted and how individuals could avoid acquiring it. Public
health officers had realized that the stigma and discrimination that was
attached to the disease was preventing people from getting tested and knowing
their status. This was the only way people would protect themselves and those
infected get proper healthcare. Regardless of the efforts that were put by public
officers, community based organizations, medical professionals, people living
with the disease and HIV/AIDS advocates
creating awareness, discrimination still continues. Discrimination is a legal
issue that has faced and continues to face people with HIV/AIDS (Hel, McGhee and Mestecky, 2006). This
paper discusses discrimination as a legal issue that HIV/AIDS patients face.
Stigma and discrimination
Discrimination
against those infected by HIV/AIDS refers to when a person is discriminated
against, treated badly or oppressed because of their real or perceived HIV
status. Stigma and discrimination attached to HIV/AIDS is the prejudice, abuse,
negative attitudes, and maltreatment that are directed to HIV/AIDS patients. The
effects of this stigma and discrimination can be wide-ranging. People with HIV/AIDS
have been rejected by the families, peers and the society in general. Some have
experienced poor treatment in education, healthcare and employment. People have
been fired from their employment, removed from their homes, and denied access
to health care and social services because of their HIV status. Some people
have forced others to have compulsory tests without their approval or
protection of confidentiality. Abuse of the rights of the people with the
disease is common (Lengauer, Altmann,
Thielen and Kaiser, 2010). There are countries and communities where
people living with the disease have been quarantined in fear of infecting
others. These kinds of treatment and behavior have led to psychological issues
as well as destructive effect in the testing and treatment of the disease. Stigma
and discrimination associated with the disease exists in every part of the
world, regardless the fact that they manifest themselves in varying magnitudes.
They manifest themselves in a different way across communities, countries, religious
groups and persons. They happen alongside other kinds of stigma and
discrimination like homophobia, racism, or misogyny. They can even be directed
to the people who are known to involve in what are taken as socially objectionable
behaviors such as drug use and prostitution (Del Rio
and Curran, 2009).
This issue affects
not only the efforts of individuals to come to terms with the disease and
manage it at an individual level, but they also affect the efforts of fighting
with the epidemic in general. The stigma
and discrimination that is associated with HIV/AIDS can affect the efforts of
the government to take effective and fast actions, on a national level. On an
individual level, these issues are known to make people shy away from being
tested and getting timely treatment and care. According to the United Nations
Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, “Stigma remains the single most important
barrier to public action. It is a main reason why too many people are afraid to
see a doctor to determine whether they have the disease, or to seek treatment
if so. It helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social
disgrace of speaking about it, or taking easily available precautions. Stigma
is a chief reason why the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate societies around
the world” (Lengauer, Altmann, Thielen and
Kaiser, 2010:67).
Reasons for stigma and discrimination
There is fear of
infection that is coupled with the negative view of the people who are
infected. There are various factors that have been known to contribute to the
stigma attached to HIV/AIDS. One of the factors is the fact that the disease is
life-threatening and this make people to react to it in a negative manner.
Infection with the disease is associated with immorality and other socially
unacceptable behaviors like homosexuality, prostitution, drug abuse and
promiscuity. These behaviors that are associated with the disease are already
stigmatized in the society. Majority of the individuals who are infected get it
through sexual acts, which by themselves carry a moral baggage (Piot, 2007). People have also been
misinformed in as far as the disease is concerned. Religious as well as moral
beliefs have led people to belief that HIV/AIDS is as a consequence of moral
fault that deserves punishment. The fact that the disease is a new one also
makes the stigma attached to it even worse. The fear that was associated with
the disease as it emerged in the 80s is still fresh in the minds of many
people. From the time it emerged, a serious of strong and powerful images were
utilized to justify and reinforce stigmatization. Such images include: as a
punishment for immorality, as a crime in relation to the guilty and innocent
victims, as war in relation to a virus that had to be fought, as horror in
which those infected should be feared and demonized, and as otherness in which
is an affliction for the people set apart (Hel, McGhee and Mestecky, 2006).
Legal efforts
After decades of
widespread stigma and discrimination, legal measures have been developed in
then effort to protect the people loving with HIV/AIDS and advancing the
efforts to fight the epidemic. In the United States, congress passed
Federal legislations aimed at protecting these people from discrimination on
the basis of their HIV status. These people deserve equal legal protections as
those with medical disabilities. One such legislation was Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990. There was expansion of this legislation
to reach Rehabilitation Act of 1973. These laws made
discrimination illegal. Bragdon v. Abbot was a case in the Supreme Court
involving discrimination on the basis of this disease. In this case, the court
passed a ruling that congress intended protection of infected people under the
people with disabilities. HIV infection in the country has been revealed to
fall under disability based on federal and state legislations that protect
those with disabilities from all sorts of discrimination. The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996) was also passed to provide legal
protection. It is developed in such a way that it provides protection of the
privacy if health information and medical records. It also offers patients the
right to access their personal records and with considerable control over how
this information is utilized and disclosed (Ogden and Nyblade, 2005).
Future of
AIDS patients in the context of discrimination
Although HIV/AIDS
infections have declined in the recent years, there are still very many cases
of people living with the disease. Laws and legislations that have been
developed as a means of fighting discrimination have proven effective, in
preventing discrimination in the public arena. This means that they have
assisted in preventing discrimination in health care, education and employment.
This is because people discriminated against on the basis of their HIV status
have the legal instruments to obtain redress. However, this does not mean that
stigma associated with the disease will end. People will still hold those
social and religious beliefs that advance stigmatization. Nevertheless with the
efforts of creating awareness and providing people with more information this
stigma will reduce and more people who are infected will go for testing and
receive care and treatment (Hel, McGhee and Mestecky, 2006).
Conclusion
Discrimination is
a legal issue that has faced and continues to face people with HIV/AIDS. This
paper discusses discrimination as a legal issue that HIV/AIDS patients face.
Discrimination is the negative treatment, abuse or oppression of people on the
basis of their HIV status. Stigma and discrimination attached to HIV/AIDS have
been around since the emergence of the disease in the 1980s. People have been
denied access to important services such as medical, educational, housing and
employment due to their HIV status. This problem exists in every part of the
world, though differently. Laws and legislations have been developed aimed at
protecting the people with the disease from discrimination, and they are
seemingly effective. However, stigma and discrimination against people with
HIV/AIDS is not likely to end in the near future.
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Hel, Z., McGhee, J.R. & Mestecky, J. (2006). HIV infection: first
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Lengauer, T., Altmann, A., Thielen, A. & Kaiser, R. (2010). Chasing
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Ogden, J. & Nyblade, L. (2005). Common at its core: HIV-related stigma across contexts (PDF).
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