Philippine E-Journals

AIDS PATIENTS AND THE UNWILLING SURGEON

Christopher S. Biton

Discipline: AIDS

 

Abstract:

The increasing awareness of the deadliness of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, a recently discovered disease, opens a new perspective in ethical questions concerning the refusal of surgeons to

treat patients afflicted with the disease Another bungling question is whether a surgeon should know the post-HIV status of patients before performing any invasive procedure. The central question would be "Why should it be important to know the pre-operative HIV status of a patient?' This information has two major implications: (1) It may change the conduct of the operation, and (2) It may alter the type of operation performed. However, this study shall be confined to the former whereby the surgeon is unwilling to operate on a person with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-thus the title.