HIV

During a casual lunch time discussion, our conversation turned to the recent incident of a doctor who had HIV infection.

"The media is mad," one of us said, "If we have to respect the privacy of our patients, why's there no respect to the privacy of doctors?"

"I presume they call it public interest?" I said.

"What interest to the public could there be?" Another one from the other side of the table said, "The chance of transmission is minimal even during surgery - otherwise no surgeon would operate on an HIV patient."

"But the damage is there. You know, this morning, when I was in the clinic, a patient asked how he could be sure his doctor - which is me - does not have AIDS!"

"You should say: That's none of your business!"

"But your patient has a point; we are not sure ourselves," I smiled, "In fact, we should put up a notice outside our Emergency Department and every medical ward, stating that the Hospital Authority does not guarantee patients are treated by doctors without AIDS. I am sure that would ease off the bed crisis a bit."