HIV_AIDS Prevention Scenario and Reflection Anh Tran
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Dec 6, 2023
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HIV/AIDS Prevention Scenario and Reflection
Anh Tran
West Coast University
Phil 434: Medical Ethics and Issues
Dr. Melanie Lavelle
October 8th, 2023
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What is HIV/AIDS
HIV is a virus that attacks the immune system, making the immune system weaker and
more susceptible to attacks from pathogens, and other harmful diseases. AIDS on the other hand,
is the final stage of HIV, if left untreated. Not only does HIV attack the immune system’s body, it
also makes the host susceptible in other ways. In this case, discrimination and stigma, which can
lead to social and psychological decline. HIV/AIDS is a well known disease that commonly
affects many individuals around the world. At the same time, it mostly affects communities of
poverty. This is because poverty is often linked to lesser education, and this can lead to
unawareness of the virus and its access gates, effects, and pathology.
Ethical Theory
For this specific topic, I chose Virtue Ethics as my ethical theory. Virtue ethics focuses
more on the roles of the individual. For example, the role of the physician is to heal the sick,
which then requires virtues of “compassion, knowledge of healing, and skill in human relations”
(Pence, 2021). It involves more on the qualities of the individual and that moral decisions should
arise from the character, and virtues of the moral agent, rather than relying on consequences such
as utilitarianism.
Pros and Cons
As an advocate of the patient and a worker in healthcare, my virtues are to promote
knowledge about HIV/AIDS as well as protect the autonomy of the patients or individuals. In
this case, making testing mandatory when patients do not want to, goes against the virtues of a
nurse at its core. Furthermore, my theory aligns with this in regards to virtues of a healthcare
worker, since I can promote knowledge and condom use rather than mandatory HIV testing. In
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this way, it is ethical as it allows the patient to decide what they want to do, as well as receive
patient education from healthcare workers like myself.
Conclusion
Patients should be the main focus, not statistics. Therefore, respecting their autonomy is
the dogma in the nursing world. Going against this and forcing mandatory HIV training isn’t up
to us, but up to the individual and we need to respect that.
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References
Pence, G. E. (2021). Medical ethics: Accounts of ground-breaking cases (9th ed.). McGraw-Hill
Education.