Routine Preoperative Screening for HIV

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Abstract
EVEN among our society's leaders, the growing epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection has produced panic. A presidential candidate (New York Times, June 7, 1987, section 4, p 1) and a US senator (Wall Street J, June 18,1987, p 33) have suggested that we quarantine people who are infected. School boards have barred seropositive children from the classroom; ministers have excluded them from church.1A clergyman has proposed that police officers should be authorized to shoot anyone suspected of being infected if that person threatens to bite them (USA Today, Aug 14,1987, p 3A). Some of our colleagues would refuse to provide care to infected patients.2None of these responses are either reasonable or humane. To criticize them, however, is not enough. We also must examine critically our profession's reactions to the crisis. As physicians, we must be logical in our responses and responsible in our leadership.