1. Infected physicians and invasive procedures: safe practice management.
- Author
-
Reitsma AM, Closen ML, Cunningham M, Lombardo PA, Minich HN, Moreno JD, Nichols RL, Pearson RD, Sawyer RG, Wispelwey B, and Tereskerz PM
- Subjects
- Decision Making, Disclosure, Ethics, Medical, HIV Infections prevention & control, HIV Infections transmission, Hepatitis B prevention & control, Hepatitis B transmission, Hepatitis C prevention & control, Hepatitis C transmission, Humans, Physicians ethics, Risk Factors, Infectious Disease Transmission, Professional-to-Patient prevention & control, Physicians standards
- Abstract
There is currently no public policy that provides guidance concerning whether and when physicians infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and/or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can safely perform invasive procedures. A committee of experts in the fields of medicine, law, and biomedical ethics and 1 community member, aided by an advisory board, was established to produce recommendations for policy reform. An extensive literature review was conducted for these 3 infectious diseases, medicine, surgery, epidemiology, law, and bioethics to gather all relevant data. Special recommendations are made regarding the management of physicians who are infected with HIV, HBV, and/or HCV. This policy proposal includes a list of exposure-prone procedures and a decision chart that indicates under what conditions infected physicians can practice beyond the need for disclosure of their serological status.
- Published
- 2005
- Full Text
- View/download PDF