Panelists discuss ethical dilemmas of AIDS virus
Lee Works created a moment of palpable emotion among the more than 80 students who attended a panel discussion on AIDS Friday afternoon when he told them of the day he found out he was infected with the HIV virus. Seven years ago, Works had just moved into a new apartment, but he never unpacked, he said. "When I found out I was infected I spent four days sitting in the middle of a hardwood floor just thinking about what I was going to do with my life," Works said. Works and four other doctors presented a variety of clinical and ethical issues related to AIDS, but did not offer any easy answers during a panel held in 105 Dartmouth Hall. Mark Siegler, director of the department of clinical ethics at the University of Chicago Hospital, led the discussion. Also participating were Jim Bernat, professor of medicine and director of clinical ethics at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center; Jeff Parsonnet, an infectious disease specialist at DHMC; and Ethics Professor Bernie Gert. Parsonnet said DHMC has seven staff members who deal mostly with people infected with HIV. "We tend to think that in this quiet little part of the world this is not that big of a problem, but we are currently following 100 to 150 cases," of HIV positive patients, Parsonnet said. The panel also discussed the problems of treatment drugs and their prices.