NCJ Number
143361
Journal
Illinois Bar Journal Volume: 81 Issue: 6 Dated: (June 1993) Pages: 325,328
Date Published
1993
Length
2 pages
Annotation
This article examines standards for lawyers to follow in deciding whether or not to disclose to a third party the existence of HIV infection in a client.
Abstract
The issue discussed in this article is whether or not an attorney has a duty to warn a client's lover about the risk of contracting HIV-AIDS from the client when the client has disclosed the presence of HIV infection. Michael Closen, professor of law at the John Marshall Law School and an expert on the legal issues associated with the HIV-AIDS epidemic, has stated, "If there's reason to believe that your client may engage in sexual activity that will place an identified third party at risk of HIV transmission, it would seem that you're obliged at least to discuss the issue with the client and advise him or her to abstain from sexual activity that might transmit HIV." Also, advises Closen, the attorney should raise the spector of civil and criminal liability in continued sexual activity. The client should also be advised to disclose his or her HIV status to past partners and to future partners before having sex with them. Although attorneys are not required to report diseases as such, Rule 1.6 of the Illinois Rules of Professional Conduct arguably imposes such a reporting requirement in the case of noncompliant HIV carriers.