Should laws require mandatory testing of health care workers for the AIDS virus?

Pro: Patients have the right to know the dangers to their health.

Pro: Mandatory testing of employees for the AIDS virus will allow employers to prohibit infected people from working in areas where there is a greater possibility of transmitting the disease.

Pro: Testing can change behavior: Individuals who are aware that employers test prospective employees for HIV will exercise greater care to avoid contracting the virus.

Con: Testing cannot change behavior, when those who may be tested see it as a remote possibility or as something that will have no serious consequences.

Con: Every worker in healthcare has a right to privacy. Mandatory testing of employees for HIV is a violation of that right.

Con: Mandatory testing for AIDS may reduce the number of workers in healthcare and prevent some very useful individuals from providing their services.

Con: Mandatory testing of employees for HIV will produce greater costs than benefits.

Con: Mandatory testing of employees for HIV will cause the destruction of some careers. Moreover, employers and employees will become vulnerable to lawsuits.

Con: Those who have AIDS are not likely to transmit the virus while providing routine care.

Con: There is no need to worry patients unnecessarily by making them aware of a program for testing workers in healthcare for HIV.

Reply: Patients would be reassured about their safety, if they knew that healthcare workers were being tested for HIV.