Dentists, doctors and insurers

It's worth understanding all of the practical and legal aspects before disclosing your HIV status to:

• dentists
• doctors
• insurers.

Dentists

Most dentists will ask you if you have HIV. According to the Disability Discrimination Act (and professional guidelines), dentists should not refuse you treatment, give you a worse service or otherwise discriminate against you because you have HIV.

In fact, dentists frequently refuse to treat people with HIV. Dentists say this is to protect themselves and other patients from HIV. But standard sterilisation procedures are enough to prevent HIV being passed on. If you experience discrimination, you could take it up with:

• your local NHS Primary Care Trust – contact their Patient Advice and Liaison Service
• the Disability Rights Commission.

Your HIV clinic may be able to recommend a good dentist.

Why tell?

The benefits of telling a dentist are that they can check for HIV-related gum problems, and make sure that any medicines they use don’t interact with anti-HIV drugs.

Doctors

There are good medical reasons to tell your GP or family doctor that you are living with HIV. When they are treating you and prescribing any medicines, your doctor needs to know about other health issues you have and other medicines you are taking.

Doctors are not allowed to refuse to treat you because you have HIV, or discriminate against you because of your lifestyle, sexuality, religion or race.

Confidentialilty

You may be worried about confidentiality, particularly if other people you know have the same doctor, or are friends with people working at the clinic. But doctors’ rules say that they cannot show your records or talk about your health to your family, friends, or anyone else. These rules apply to all doctors, and say that it is the doctor’s responsibility to ensure that personal information remains confidential.

There are some exceptions where doctors may need to disclose your HIV status. But otherwise, the doctor (and other health workers) must make sure that your medical information remains private.

Exceptions to confidentiality 

One important exception is that information will normally be shared within the healthcare team and with other health workers who give you care. But you could ask your doctor not to do this and, unless it would put another worker in danger, the doctor must respect your wishes.

If you apply for life insurance or a mortgage that requires life insurance, your GP will probably be asked about your HIV status. They will need your consent to answer, but they still have to respond honestly. You can read more about insurance lower down on this page.

There are a few other situations when the normal rules of confidentiality may be broken. These situations are extremely uncommon:

• If a court forced a doctor to give evidence, they would have to answer all questions honestly. This could happen if someone is prosecuted for transmitting HIV.
• If the police were investigating a crime and asked a doctor for information, the doctor might co-operate. However, many doctors would refuse.
• If a doctor believes that someone with HIV is putting the life of another person in danger, the doctor has the right to disclose information to the person in danger. This can only be done as a last resort, and after telling the person with HIV that confidentiality will be broken.

Medical records

Your doctor will probably note your HIV status in your medical records. Under the Data Protection Act, you have the right to see your medical records and have anything inaccurate changed. If there’s something in your notes which is accurate, but you are still unhappy with, you can ask if the doctor would be willing to modify it.

Insurers

If you apply for life insurance or a mortgage that requires life insurance, the insurers will ask both you and your GP about your HIV status. If you lie and the insurance company finds out, it will cancel the policy.

Insurance industry guidelines say that you can be asked about:

• testing HIV positive
• having a sexually transmitted infection in the last five years
• living or travelling abroad
• having blood transfusions or surgery abroad
• injecting drugs.

You can’t be asked about your sexuality, how many sexual partners you have or how long relationships have lasted.