History and Bioethics of HIV Counseling

Running head: HEALTHCARE
Healthcare
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
HEALTHCARE
History of HIV Counseling
During the initial years, HIV counseling is done based on how the person got infected
with HIV, information about his or her partners or reference to multiple partners and
unprotected sex in conjugal life. Counseling used to take place once the people get affected
with HIV and questions were more gender specific. At present, the HIV counseling occurs
before marriage, at the time of the unplanned pregnancy or among the young live-in couple.
People are now more open-minded about their conjugal life and thus the pattern of questions
has been changed. Apart from the education about HIV, importance is also given to the
underlying psychological perspective behind sexual life and concept of the multiple partners
(Bor, Miller & Goldman, 2013).
General Bio-Ethics of HIV Counseling
There are three widely recognized principles under the American bioethics that apply
to research and the clinical ethics: respect for the service users and their family members,
justice for all and beneficence. Under the under the ethical issues related to HIV/AIDS
counseling, the main areas that are required to be taken under consideration include
confidentiality and informed consent. In United States, all medical information is considered
as confidential and protected under the law of the bio-ethics. Due to the sensitivity of the
HIV/AIDs related information, states in U.S have adopted additional laws that provide
stringent protection to the HIV-related medical health records. For example, states in the U.S,
the information related to HIV-check ups are not disclosed based on general release of the
medical information like the medical bulletin. The information related to HIV can only be
released upon specific authorization. However, breaching of confidentiality is permitted
under sudden circumstances (Tucker & Rennie, 2014). For example, the healthcare providers
working in the U.S are permitted to disclose a patient's HIV-related information to another