Ethics and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome

The integration into daily practice of a fully realized sense of medical ethics is one of the greatest possible sources of personal and professional fulfillment. It is also, for the profession as a whole, one of the two ultimate claims to continuing legitimacy and respect, the other being technical competence. Of these two, the greater is excellence in moral commitments. For as the AIDS crisis is demonstrating so well, we often lack the requisite knowledge and skills. When knowledge and technology are deficient, it is only moral excellence that can protect the sacred values and commitments that make and keep our professions all that they have been, are, and can become.