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Medical students in a time of HIV: education and the duty to treat
Author(s) -
Post S G,
Botkin J R,
Headrick L A
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
medical education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.776
H-Index - 138
eISSN - 1365-2923
pISSN - 0308-0110
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2923.1995.tb02815.x
Subject(s) - duty , medical ethics , anxiety , medical education , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , medicine , medical profession , psychology , family medicine , psychiatry , political science , law
SUMMARY This article concerns medical education about the ethics of professional duties and treatment of HIV‐infected patients. The issue at hand is not whether medical students have a duty to treat HIV‐infected patients, since it is a matter of consensus that they do. Medical schools have reasserted that risks are inherent in medicine, and that medical school admission should be based on the willingness to accept some risks, in addition to intelligence and personal skills. Those who wish to avoid risks are free to enter other professions. While it is imperative to assert a duty to treat, this requires thoughtful explanation to match the understandably high anxiety levels of many medical students.