China: Man Hides HIV Status to Obtain Surgery

An HIV-infected man from Tianjin, China, concealed his condition from doctors, because several other hospitals had refused to treat him, to obtain surgery for treatment of his lung cancer. The regional director of the China Alliance of People Living with HIV/AIDS, Li Hu, stated on the Weibo social network website that the man successfully received surgery by hiding his condition. Hu added that the man will sue the hospitals who refused to treat him. Shortly after the information was posted on Weibo, thousands of people responded to the website, making it a debate battleground over the patient's controversial act. Many denounced the man's act and called it reckless; they pointed out that it put the medical staff at risk. Others, distraught with the hospitals' refusal to treat HIV/AIDS patients, thought that these hospitals should be sued for discrimination. According to China's Regulation on the Prevention and Treatment of HIV/AIDS, a patient must disclose his or her virus status to doctors, and doctors must not refuse treatment based on a patient's status. However, the organization is also aware of some hospitals being unwilling to treat infected patients.

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