HIV and patient confidentiality

In class yesterday, we discussed a specific case where a HIV positive patient told her doctor that she was having unprotected sex and was not going to tell the partner. Some believed that patient confidentiality was more important, while others argued for the partner being told. I wanted to further elaborate on why physicians who have HIV positive patients with known sexual partners must tell the partner. If the physician does not tell the partner then he/she has the potential of infecting many others. The Hippocratic Oath says “first do no harm.” By not telling him/her that their sexual partner is HIV positive the physician is in fact doing harm. HIV is an epidemic with some of its origins involving HIV positive people having unprotected sex with some one else. If the sexual partners of these patients are not told about the risk then this pandemic will continue to grow exponentially because people will have unprotected sex never suspecting that they may be killing their partner. The best way to end this outbreak is by telling the unknowing sexual partners that the one they are sleeping with has HIV.