The difficult, demanding, and demented AIDS patient in long-term care

Demented AIDS patients in long-term care present interconnected medical, ethical, and management problems. The patient's right to care must be considered in the context of the obligations owed to other residents and to staff members. A principled analysis should focus on substantive and procedural issues: the concept of autonomy must be modified by notions of accommodation to the needs of others; procedural fairness should guide discussions. A dynamic analysis should identify the various parties, their conflicting interests, and possible routes for resolving differences.