PLATFORM : A Duty to Provide Care

All primary physicians have a duty to provide care for HIV-positive patients. When physicians refuse to treat HIV-positive patients, we should ask why. Have the doctors kept up with modern medical management? Are they competent? Do they understand the principles of disease transmission? Are they familiar with the widespread prevalence of HIV? Not all patients with HIV are aware they are infected, as the asymptomic period can be 10 years or longer. Whether they know it or not, it is likely that doctors throughout Los Angeles are already caring for HIV-infected patients.

If a doctor says that he or she doesn’t provide care for HIV-positive patients, even the uninfected patient would be better off going to a physician who can provide such care. Physicians who believe they can restrict their practice have poor judgment, may not be up-to-date, have questionable ethical values, and/or might not be routinely taking the necessary precautions to protect patients and staff from the spread of infection.