Am I Wrong?
- wadE
The short answer to that questions is probably "yes".
This morning on startribune.com I read this.
Now for those of you too lazy to read it, let me paraphrase. Local surgeon is infected with HIV, and has
been since 1997. There are strict restrictions on how he is to handle sharp objects in surgery, and various
other aspects of his job. Recently while perforing an arthroscopic procedure on a patient, his finger was cut
and it bled.
Turns out he hasn't been following all of the restrictions to the letter and did not do so in this particular
surgery either. Good news is that so far the patient has not shown to be infected.
Now that part that'll get me in trouble...should this guy even be performing surgeries? And if so, should his
patients be made aware of his HIV status before having him work on them?
In my opinion he shouldn't even be allowed to perform surgeries. Now this isn't about AIDS and the stigma
surrounding it. If this surgeon had Hepatitus, I'd feel the same way. Doesn't it seem reckless to have someone
with a deadly disease handle scalpels while a person lies on a table with their insides exposed?
And besides, the guy is a surgeon, it's not like he couldn't perform other roles within the medical field. It
isn't like I'm in favor of banning him from medicine and putting him in quarantine.
Am I wrong? If so, let me know.
What do you think? Drop us a line at webmaster@simpleprop.com and give us some
feedback. Maybe we'll even run your letters in future Gambits. 'The Daily Gambit' is updated every weekday.
