Box 4.

: A nurse with HIV infection

• Managers of a health provider discover that one of their nurses is infected with HIV but has told nobody. Should they release the nurse's name to the media? Should they notify all those who may have been treated by the nurse even though the chances of anybody being infected are vanishingly small?
• Four principles (balance, comprehensiveness, safety, and openness) suggest that the media and patients should be fully informed. The “cooperation” principle may be taken to mean that the nurse's name should not be released without her consent. If the nurse did not consent, judgment would have to be made about releasing the name, but the weight of the principles suggests it should be disclosed. The principles favour disclosure.