On the obligation of physicians to treat AIDS: is there a historical basis?

This study examines the historical bases of what physicians ought to do as well as what they actually have done with regard to the treatment of diseases such as AIDS, which put them at risk for their lives. The earliest explicit statement of what ought to be done goes back only to 1847, when the American Medical Association was founded. However, this statement conflicts with a 75-year-old assertion that physicians have a right to choose whom they will serve. The conflict is compounded by the suspicion that both stated principles were based, at least in part, on socioeconomic considerations rather than moral imperatives. Of what physicians have actually done over the last 2,400 years, little more can definitely be said than that many have not tried to escape mortal risk while others have done so. Thus it is difficult to employ history as a basis for claiming that physicians have an obligation to treat AIDS.