HIV/AIDS: Ethical, Legal, and Clinical Complexities in Psychotherapy with Clients with HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS is a treatable disease, but still a fatal disease; that is to say, there is no cure. This being the case, when one receives a diagnosis of being HIV positive, it can be devastating. Seeking out counseling for this life changing circumstance can prevent a host of problems down the line. However, there are ethical issues that arise in the therapeutic relationship due to the nature of this stigmatic disease. This course intends to address the laws and ethics and clinical complexities that surround treating the HIV positive individual. Keep in mind that what is right or ethical may not be legal, and legal injunctions may not appear to be ethical. However, since the emergence of the disease over 25 years ago, following the codes of ethics of the various health disciplines, the laws in the various states, and maintaining informed clinical judgment and common sense can help resolve ethical issues.

In this intermediate course, firstly, HIV/AIDS, the law and human rights are addressed, focusing on laws regarding infection, reporting, testing, transmission, and treatment. Federal and California law are considered specifically with other state laws regarding criminal statues listed. International issues regarding criminalization of HIV/AIDS and guidelines for human rights are discussed. This is followed with the specific codes of ethics of various professional disciplines regarding competence and limits of confidentiality in treatment of clients with HIV/AIDS. Issues regarding informed consent, confidentiality, clarity regarding the duty to protect both the client and potential parties who are vulnerable to infection, duty to treat and finally, the determination of the patient’s capacity and the probability of suicide, including arguments for and against assisted suicide and reasons to offer palliative care are discussed. The course concludes with a look at “special populations” and a few simple steps to ethical decision-making in treating clients with HIV/AIDS. Additional resources and references are provided for further study, but they are not part of the course. Transcript provided for the one MP3.