Ethical issues involved in the treatment of patients and employment of nurses with acquired immune deficiency syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Among all health care professionals, nurses have the closest contact with the harsh realities of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and human immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV)-infected patients. Thus, nurses and nurse managers are on the ethical front line when confronted by the thorny issues of treatment of patients and employment of nurses with AIDS and HIV. This article explores the interrelated topics of nondiscriminatory nursing care of HIV-infected patients, the duty to provide a safe workplace while respecting the right of HIV-infected nurses to practice their profession, the duty to disclose an HIV-positive nurse's seropositivity to patients under the doctrine of informed consent, and HIV testing to alert health care workers of patients' status. The article offers some pragmatic and ethical guidelines for analyzing these controversies.