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Screening for HIV Infection and Public Health Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2021

Harvey V. Fineberg
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Extract

The subject of screening stands at the intersection of medicine and public health and the law. Medicine is concerned about the care of the individual patient; public health focuses on maintaining and improving the health of entire populations. The law is concerned with the balance of rights and responsibilities, protecting society from errant individuals and protecting the individual from undue constraints of society.

In looking specifically at the questions of screening or testing for the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) it is useful to consider the meaning of the words “tests” and “screening” because many different terms are applied to these concepts — diagnostic testing, case finding, screening, surveillance, and so on. In all cases, medical tests have a common purpose: to provide information that sheds light on the probability that the disease of interest actually is present in the patient being tested.

Type
Article
Information
Law, Medicine and Healthcare , Volume 18 , Issue 1-2 , Summer 1990 , pp. 29 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

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References

Lo, B., Steinbrook, R.L., Cooke, M., et al., “Voluntary Screening for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection: Weighing the Benefits and Harms,” Annals of Internal Medicine 110(9): 727–733, 1989.Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert O., Essays in Trespassing: Economics to Politics and Beyond, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981.Google Scholar