A new paradigm for HIV care: ethical and clinical considerations

Although dramatic advances in clinical treatment have greatly improved the lives of many people with HIV/AIDS, many other patients do not have information about or access to these treatments because of health care providers' presumptive judgments about patients' ability to adhere to medical regimens. The authors contend that with sufficient support and education most patients, even those with difficult social and medical problems, can be helped to initiate and maintain HIV treatment in accordance with current clinical standards. This commentary delineates a new paradigm for HIV care in which patients and providers collaborate on individualized plans to establish patients' readiness for treatment, ensure maintenance of treatment, and make use of the social services necessary to accomplish these goals. Providers have an ethical responsibility to do everything possible to see that patients who might benefit from new HIV treatments have a fair opportunity to do so, and health systems have a responsibility to facilitate this process. Substantial progress toward meeting these responsibilities can be made within the current health care environment.