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royale-noir
royale-noirTuesday, December 16, 2008 at 7:07:00 PM EST
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That is the question addressed by a New York Times article two weeks ago, and doctors are saying "yes"-
25 years into the pandemic of HIV, the rates are still rising everyday....with 48% of black men, ages 14 to 24, who have or had sex with other men infected with HIV, and the rising rates in all other demographics- this idea should have been implemented a long time ago. The only reason that it hasn't happened as of yet is MONEY. You'd think that human lives should trump cost, but it's only a pattern in America's failed health care system.The American College of Physicians is urging doctors to screen all patients for H.I.V. routinely beginning at age 13, whether or not they engage in risky behaviors.
If we are screened for HIV whenever we visit a doctor's office, hospital, emergency room, etc. we are better suited for combatting the virus. If someone is positive they can immediately go into treatment, rather than waiting to fall within a "risk behavior group."
Today I got a phone call from a dear friend of mine in Colorado who was diagnosed as HIV positive. She is a heterosexual white woman in her 30's...MARRIED! She doesn't fall into any risk groups, had I not urged her to get tested she may have not known until it was too late. Sad to say she's very angry, at me! She believes that it is my fault for urging her to get tested, as if I wanted her to become positive. What I wanted was for her to be informed. Who knows how long she's been infected. Had the screenings been mandatory, as blood counts and blood pressure reviews are, maybe she would have known a long time ago.
Though the Center for Disease Control and Prevention urged hospitals just two years ago to begin routine testing to help reduce the spread of the virus, it's sad to say to this day only about 50 to 100 of the thousands of emergency rooms across the entire country routinely test patients. People aren't always comfortable to disclose their risky behaviors to their doctors, let alone one another, so doctors won't always know what potential risk a person is in for contraction. I know that I wasn't comfortable telling my doctors everything that I did in my past. I thought that was too personal, and had a doctor not urged me to get tested, I would not have known that I myself am positive. Diagnosed at 22 years old after I thought I had done everything right, I was so very wrong.
Hospitals want to know, "Who is going to pay for these tests?" If someone is negative the hospitals themselves will have to pay the bills for all of these tests, cutting into profits. I think it's cruel and unneccessary for our lives to hang in the balance because of profits. Health shouldn't be a business, it is a right...I think routine tests should be offered at every health institution, as lives can be saved.
What's your take?
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by GarrettMize
by AFY_Samantha
by AFY_Samantha
by AFY_Samantha
Especially with the improved, swab method of HIV testing, I think it should become routine. If it's painless, why not?
Yes, there's the money issue. But COME ON: if we have money to occupy Iraq, I think we can get out and pay for something that would save lives, not end them.
Knowing your status is one thing, but knowing how to prevent the spread of disease is equally important. Is the health care world is ready to have a non-judgemental discussion with their patients about how to prevent the spread of this disease? Are doctor's ready to tackle the social side of sex? Have they been trained to discuss safe sex methods for ALL patients? Are patients ready to be honest with their doctors about the activities that may put them at risk? Who can provide post test counseling/support when a test yields a positive result? What if routine HIV tests deter people from seeing their doctors?
None of these questions are arguments against HIV tests, but they are critiques of an already inadequate health care policy towards sex. I want to see the health care realm take on more responsibility in the battle to create a sexually healthy society, but they will need a lot of help first.
Before they can even think of making testing mandatory, they have to work on the sensitizing issue... imagine what wold happen, if 5,000 uninformed, little informed, or wrongly-informed individuals get tested. you have those 5000 going haywire, and give each person 2 friends thats 10,000 mor people raising hell, give each person a family of 3, thas 15,000 more people being unnecessarily unnerved, all in the name of trying to lower HIV infection rates..
My take? Right now, the best way to get the rates down is information. Once that's done, people will even be willing to come in for the tests without them being mandatory.
Agree? Disagree?
In theory it sounds like a great idea, mandate testing, people will respond nice and calmly and take appropriate action. However, with all the stigmas against HIV, especially in certain communities, I doubt that would happen.
Also, maybe I've read too much 1984 and Brave New World type stories, but I could reasonably foresee the government telling doctors that if they're going to pay for mandatory HIV testing, they need a database of every HIV positive person, screen them, watch them, heck even invade their personal lives and tell their employers. Not every state (to my knowledge) has job protection for HIV positive employees.
So yes, education and awareness, comprehensive safe sex education, and working on lessening the stigmas surrounding HIV/AIDS is definitely our first step.