Trainee Acupunturist and hepitisis C

[Creole]

Please can someone help my friend.

She is a counsellor, who works with another counsellor

My friend has been told that she has got to allow her colleague who has hep C to practice acupunture on her. She has been told that if she doesn't allow him to do this, she will be in breach of the anti-discrimination Act.
Which will result in her being referred to the HR departmert and disciplined.
Does she have any rights to refuse? because her manager is under the impression there is no risk involved. However, this person who is in training to be an acupunturist has never practised on another person before.

Let me get this straight: your friend is being forced to recieve acupuncture that she doesn't want, regardless of who the practitioner is?

Yep, she is told she's discrinatineg against this person with hep C.

She would prefer to have the acupunture from a non-infected person as she feels there is a small risk.

I hope someone comes along with legal knowledge, but from what I understand of the law regarding medical treatment (which I assume includes acupuncture):
everyone has a right to refuse medical treatment
everyone has a right to choose who performs medical treatment on them.

I have no legal qualifications, but I would be amazed if your friends employers forced her to do this.

Well I think your friend should tell her manager that if she feels there is discrimination in place it is the organisational's responsibility to find someone else he can practice on and maybe she (the manager) should volunteer

there is a risk in unsterilised practice

there is minimal risk in transmission to be fair

but it is not the organisation's right to remove free will and the decision from your friend

your friend cannot be in breach of anti-discrimination legislation only the college

She would be very pleased if there is an ACT that she can quote if this is taken up to HR.

PS I'm not a legal person so might be wrong .. but that's what I think is true

As I read it again, it seems so ludicrous. Tel 0845 747 4 747.

If the acupuncturist is using sterile needles, and does not stick a needle into himself before putting them into your friend there is no risk. whatsoever.

Your friend is in a difficult position, but think of it this way. Would she allow someone who has not been screened for all known blood-borne diseases practise on her? has your friend been screened for blood-borne infectious diseases, so can she categorically state that she does NOT have one?

If your friend has not been screened herself, then is she putting anyone she practises on at risk?

I don't know the college's position re: testing, obviously, but if no-one else has been screened, and your friend is refusing to have acupuncture from this other trainee, then, yes, she is discriminating against him. If everyone has been screened, and he is the only one positive for anything, however, this would imply that the college feels that there is a risk involved, and then she would be on surer ground.

sorry, it is not clear from your post whether your friend is training in acupuncture as well.

The more I think about this, the more unclear it seems to me!

Is this acupuncture part of a course they are both on, or is it just the colleague?

Is it part of her contract of employment that she should allow colleagues to practise on her, or an unwritten custom?

Sorry, if the post didn't make sense, I was typing it whilst she was narrating it over the phone to me.

My friend is a trained counsellor working for a well known company that helps drug addicts and alcoholics etc. As part of the help/therapy they provide to their clients, acupunture is one of them.
She is a trained counsellor and acupunturist. Her colleague who is also a trained counsellor is in training to become an acupunturist and he was recently employed in my friend's company. According to my friend, when this guy started, he didn't tell anyone of his status so she feels an element of trust has been destroyed.

I basically feels she has a right to choose who she wants to pin her ears.

Hope this clarifies things.

Grateful, for all advice and help - she is definately going to contact acas as suggested by someone else.

hmm, still on shaky ground, I think- counselling isn't a field in which there is a risk of transmission of viruses, so he is not legally, or even morally obliged to tell anyone of his status. So he's now training to be an acupuncturist- does he now have to tell anyone? I'm not sure; as I said before, acupuncture isn't a field where there is a risk of transmission of viruses, if the needles are sterile, single use, or even if they're properly sterilised, but re-used.

How did your friend come to find out that he is Hep C positive?

I still feel that she can't be disciplined for refusing to have acupuncture, unless it is a part of her contract of employment. The Hep C, is in a way irrelevant.

Hi, and thanks for the taking the time to reply.

There is no where in her contract that states she has to participate in acupunture.
Her colleague revealed his status after a few weeks/months (I'm not exactly sure) of his employment. Prior to his disclosure, he did practise acupunture on my friend and this is what annoyed her.

Let us know the outcome.

As a practitioner we are supposed to take universal precautions in our work. That means that we assume anyone (including ourselves) could have a transmittable infection/virus and we therefore must take all reasonable steps to avoid transmission eg wearing of gloves, use of alco-gel etc. That said, if I knew I had Hep C or HIV I would not be able to continue in my job as I would torture myself with "what if" scenarios because one of my tasks is to give injections. I find it odd that anyone with a blood borne disease would want to do a job which involves use of sharps particularly if one works with a potentially volatile caseload as this increases the risk more. Although the risk of infection is low, I still feel the colleage should have told your friend about his status. He could have then reassured her about safety etc and she could've made an informed decision. As acupuncture is performed away from the field of vision of the recipient, trust is also an issue as you cannot see what they are doing.