Ethics and AIDS: A Summary of the Law and a Critical Analysis of the Individual Physician's Ethical Duty to Treat

1990 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 249-265
Keyword(s):  
Potential Problem ◽  
Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Health Care Needs ◽  
Care Needs ◽  
Ethical Duty ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency

Persons afflicted with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or its preceding medical conditions face a potential problem with assured access to basic threshold medical care. Subject to certain limitations, there is no guarantee that a physician will fulfill the health care needs of any population of patients. Individuals with AIDS, thus, have a considerable interest in the development of a duty on behalf of physicians to provide treatment. This Note first highlights the limits of the legal duty to treat. It then examines the theoretical impetus propelling an ethical duty to treat. The Note concludes that the grounds for imposing an ethical duty on physicians are too weak to support that result, but the creation of an AIDS-specific legal duty is a viable alternative.

Arteriopathy in Children with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

1987 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay Joshi ◽  
Bruce Pawel ◽  
Edward Connor ◽  
Leroy Sharer ◽  
James Oleske ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immune Deficiency ◽  
Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency

scholarly journals The origin of acquired immune deficiency syndrome: Darwinian or Lamarckian?

2001 ◽  
Vol 356 (1410) ◽  
pp. 877-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Burr ◽  
J. M. Hyman ◽  
Gerald Myers
Keyword(s):  
Immune Deficiency ◽  
Simulated Data ◽  
Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Deficiency Syndrome ◽  
Darwinian Evolution ◽  
Immunodeficiency Virus ◽  
Acquired Immune Deficiency ◽  
Hiv 1

The subtypes of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV–1) group M exhibit a remarkable similarity in their between–subtype distances, which we refer to as high synchrony. The shape of the phylogenetic tree of these subtypes is referred to as a sunburst to distinguish it from a simple star phylogeny. Neither a sunburst pattern nor a comparable degree of symmetry is seen in a natural process such as in feline immunodeficiency virus evolution. We therefore have undertaken forward–process simulation studies employing coalescent theory to investigate whether such highly synchronized subtypes could be readily produced by natural Darwinian evolution. The forward model includes both classical (macro) and molecular (micro) epidemiological components. HIV–1 group M subtype synchrony is quantified using the standard deviation of the between–subtype distances and the average of the within–subtype distances. Highly synchronized subtypes and a sunburst phylogeny are not observed in our simulated data, leading to the conclusion that a quasi–Lamarckian, punctuated event occurred. The natural transfer theory for the origin of human acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) cannot easily be reconciled with these findings and it is as if a recent non–Darwinian process took place coincident with the rise of AIDS in Africa.

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