HEALTHPaucity of information raised HIV fear factorA quarter century of knowledge boosts doctors' ability to treat this disease.By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. June 12, 2006. In the mid-1980s, newspapers were filled with stories about a new virus, and the medical profession was wrestling with how to handle some physicians' refusals to treat those infected. "AIDS had just arrived on the scene. It proved to be a fatal disease with no known treatment, and it was not clear how contagious it was," said Russel Patterson, MD, vice chair of the AMA's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs in 1987, when the panel issued a statement that physicians had an ethical obligation to care for people with AIDS. In hindsight, physician reluctance is blamed primarily on lack of information. The risk health care workers faced of possibly contracting the virus had a chilling effect. The stigma of homosexuality accompanying AIDS, as well as doctors' discomfort with discussions about sex that were a crucial part of related counseling, also contributed to the hesitancy. A survey of general internists, family physicians and general practitioners published in the Nov. 27, 1991, Journal of the American Medical Association found that a majority of doctors felt they had a responsibility to treat patients who were HIV-positive or who had AIDS, though half said they would opt out if given the choice. A third were uneasy around homosexuals, and more than half responded that they preferred not to have injection drug users in their practice. [...]Full text of American Medical News content is available to AMA members and paid subscribers.
Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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The doctors are in the house
The AMA's House of Delegates is holding its Interim Meeting Nov. 7-10 in Houston, addressing issues such as health system reform and physician payment. Meeting coverage - Slideshow Feature articlesHealth reform review The Massachusetts experience Litigation stress Being sued is personal as well as professional Comprehensive coverage
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