AEGiS-14IAC: HIV/AIDS, privacy and the right to marry: judicial responses and the indian context.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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HIV/AIDS, privacy and the right to marry: judicial responses and the indian context.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. E11480)

Kishore RR
Indian Society for Health Laws &Ethics, New Delhi, India

ISSUES: Whether a person has a right to know the HIV status of his/her would be spouse, whether such status can be disclosed by a physician or an establishment, without the consent of the HIV positive person. Can the marital and reproductive rights of an HIV positive person be curtailed?

DESCRIPTION: This paper deals with the important issue of privacy, stigmatisation, ostracization and isolation of HIV/AIDS sufferers and the consequent infringement of their fundamental human rights, in particular the right to marry and reproduce. For this purpose the paper analyses an important judicial decision pronounced by the Supreme Court of India, on 21 September, 1998 in Mr. 'X' vs. hospital 'Z', granting liberty to clinical establishments to disclose the HIV positive status of an individual to the public, without his/her knowledge - what to talk of consent - in the interest of HIV/AIDS prevention, and prohibiting the HIV positive persons from marrying. In order to make an objective assessment, the paper compares the decision of Indian Supreme Court with judicial decisions in other parts of the world, discussing various dimensions of these precious human rights in the context of HIV/AIDS.

ISSUES: In today's pluralistic health care milieu, driven by market forces, privacy continues to be an intrinsic human right, affording surest guarantee against exploitation of the individual. A physician or clinical establishment has no right to disclose the information regarding HIV status of a person, unless authorised by means of informed consent or by a statutory direction having the force of law. A person's HIV positive status should not constitute a legal disqualification for marriage, it should be a matter of choice between the partners. RECOMMENDATION: The above verdict is not consistent with the prevailing notions of human dignity and is contrary to ethically sound social order and hence it needs to be reviewed.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Privacy, HIV Infections, HIV Seropositivity, Human Rights, Informed Consent, Ethnic Groups, Delivery of Health Care, India, HumanKWDaegis,acquiredimmunodeficiencysyndrome,privacy,hivinfections,hivseropositivity,humanrights,informedconsent,ethnicgroups,deliveryofhealthcare,india,human

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E11480

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.