ABSTRACT
Increasing debate has occurred in medical and public circles over the issue of the rights, responsibilities, and roles of a physician who has acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). Few would disagree that AIDS has presented medicine and physicians with the most complex challenges since the polio and typhoid epidemics of the first half of the twentieth century. This chapter provides an overview of the attitudes of physicians toward AIDS. The discussion largely reflects the results of surveys conducted by the American Medical Association from 1987 to 1989. Comparisons are also made with other studies of physicians' attitudes, including some studies from Great Britain. Thomas Sydenham in the seventeenth century fled from the Black Plague. In contrast, Guy de Chauliac, physician to the Pope and a noted surgeon in the fourteenth century, continued to practice in spite of his fear.
