Thu, Nov 26 2009
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Missouri: Adolescents, not parents, to decide on HIV testing A Missouri statute allows minors to decide for themselves on testing and treatment for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases and to learn the results in confidence. At least 25 other states have similar minor consent laws.
“There are going to be people, I fully accept, who are not going to like it,” Hayes said. “But when you think of the good of the teenagers and the good of the community, it’s a good thing to do.” Sprigg disagreed. “I don’t think its ever for the community’s good for an institution like a hospital to come between a parent and a child,” he said. “This is almost like the hospital conspiring with the minor against the parents.” Nineteen-year-old Arthur Kinnard of St. Louis learned two years ago he was HIV-positive. Kinnard said he began having unprotected sex with men when he was 16. As devastating as the diagnosis was, Kinnard said it has allowed him to get the medical care he needs and begin moving forward again with his life. He supports testing of adolescents and feels they should be able to decide if their parents know the results. “Gay black males are often not accepted in the black community,” Kinnard said. “Say you told my father first, things would be really, really bad. The parent is not the one dealing with it. I am.” A grant from the CDC helps pay for the initiative. Hayes said a specific start date has not been decided. 
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