Do Physicians Have an Obligation to Treat Patients with AIDS?

Abstract

Are physicians obligated to treat patients with the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)? This is clearly an important question for practicing physicians, but its scope extends beyond AIDS and matters of clinical care. It raises fundamental questions about the medical profession itself, about the social and professional understanding of the purpose of medicine. In analyzing the physician's obligation to patients with AIDS, two issues must be considered — the nature of the obligation, and what factors, if any, serve to limit it.The Obligation to Treat Patients with AIDSOur investigation of physicians' obligation should begin with the acknowledgment that unless . . .