HIV/Aids is without a doubt the leading epidemic of the 21st century, claiming millions of lives in Sub-Saharan Africa each year. However, in spite of its prevalence, the disease still carries a lot of prejudice and stigma, which in turn is causing a lot of issues with regards to the HIV positive patient's rights. Despite this, the South African law states that a patient who has tested positive for HIV/Aids still has equal rights to that of a patient suffering from any other disease.

The South African HIV rights act therefore prevents health care institutes and practitioners to reveal these patients' medical records to anybody without authorisation in any given situation, including the patient's employer. The only time when a health care provider may need to share the patient's HIV status with other health care providers is to ensure that the patient receive adequate treatment for optimum health. But this is only allowed with the consent of the HIV patient.

Another situation that calls upon HIV rights is at the workplace. Under no circumstance is an employer allowed to discriminate against a current or potential employee because of their HIV/Aids positive status. Employers are thus also not allowed to request that an employee undergoes HIV testing as a condition of their employment. If, however, an employer can provide material reasons as to why an employee's HIV/Aids status must be known, he/she is not allowed to dismiss the employee if tested positive. In fact, the South African Constitution demands that the employee be given the opportunity to be transferred to another department where the employee's status doesn't have an impact on his/her work.

If you have been wrongfully dismissed from employment or your patient confidentiality has been disregarded, contact Adele van der Walt Attorneys. Our team have ample experience in cases such as these where a patient's HIV rights have been contravened, and we'd be happy to assist you to make a case.

For more information on this subject, please give us a call at 012 460 3668 (SA)
or e-mail us at linda@avdw.co.za