AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic: An Oral History

by Ronald Bayer and Gerald M. Oppenheimer

Book Overview

Today, AIDS has been indelibly etched in our consciousness. Yet it was less than twenty years ago that doctors confronted a sudden avalanche of strange, inexplicable, seemingly untreatable conditions that signaled the arrival of a devastating new disease. Bewildered, unprepared, and pushed to the limit of their diagnostic abilities, a select group of courageous physicians nevertheless persevered. This unique collective memoir tells their story.
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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195126815
• ISBN13: 9780195126815
• Release Date: July 2000
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.13 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

AIDS Doctors: A compelling story of doctors

When the AIDS epidemic first broke out in 1981, many doctors did not participate in the research, treatment, or hope for the disease. Those that did had their lives changed forever. These were the doctors who were not afraid of accepting patients whom they were not sure they could cure. This was a new and very different disease than any of these doctors had ever come in contact with, and to try and treat it was honorable and extremely optimistic. AIDS Doctors: Voices from the Epidemic is a book which captures the story of AIDS since it's very (known) existence in America from the viewpoint of AIDS doctors.The authors Bayer and Oppenheimer interviewed 75 doctors, each with their own stories, for a total of 300 hours adding to research for the book. The doctors included researchers, doctors who treated AIDS patients, and directors of AIDS programs. Almost half of the doctors were gay, all of whom wanted to help their gay community find answers about why this epidemic was predominant in their community. The goal of Bayer and Oppenheimer was to write a book portraying the effects of AIDS on doctors, and how the doctors dealt with the epidemic on the emotional side.The book was very emotional, with the doctors giving examples of interviews with patients which resulted in tears by both parties. Many of the doctors wrote about their patients' moving stories, while others wrote biographies. Even a few of the doctors interviewed were diagnosed with AIDS. Most of the doctors were still angry at the government and scientists for not taking a more proactive stance towards the disease when it was first introduced, and it showed through in their interviews. The hardest part was reading about other doctors who turned their back on these severely ill people because of their sexual orientation or lifestyle. The discrimination against the infected is revolting and a smudge among all of those in the scientific community who did not offer appropriate care. I think that this book really shows a struggle between mankind and science. Many do not understand the true emotional side of the disease and the only people who really will know are those who are affected by AIDS and their doctors. Luckily for the rest of us, these two authors definitely capture the emotion. These exceptional doctors have devoted all of their commitment to a special cause, and in turn have been affected in every way of their lives by it. This book was exceptional as it showed the emotional side of doctors who put their lives forward for a seemingly hopeless cause. The book is very hard to read, and often needs to be put aside for a few days in order to recompose yourself. This is by far one of the most remarkable books I have read on the disease and deserves to sit with the rest of the award winning medical documentaries of our time.

AIDS Doctors- Fascinating History

The emergence of AIDS, a life-threatening disease, raised health care issues. As the disease was first identified in homosexuals and drug users, physicians refused to treat these patients. A surgeon, named Milwaukee stated in the book AIDS doctors: Voices from the Epidemic, "I've got to be selfish. It's an incurable disease that's uniformly fatal, and I'm constantly at risk for getting it. I've got to think about myself. I've got to think about my family. That responsibility is greater than to the patient." Fortunately, there were a group of doctors whose interviews and stories about their experience in the AIDS epidemic we can read in the book .There were 76 doctors who were interviewed, most were women and about forty percent were homosexuals. These doctors stepped up for the people whom they understood because of their same/similar sexual orientation, because they felt compelled to help, or a great opportunity to demonstrate their care for people.The AIDS epidemic demonstrates to be difficult for the patient, their family, and the physician. Since the disease, AIDS, was identified in 1981 by the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the struggle to overcome the disease began. Also, the struggle to overcome discrimination from the exclusive thought that only homosexuals and drug users could get infected with AIDS began. The struggle was not left only for the person infected to fight, but the doctors who did not allowed the anxiety of not having a complete knowledge about the biology and infectivity of the disease to hold them back from helping, have now changed the situation. Now there have been many changes when one regards to AIDS. We are now more knowledgeable about the disease. After reading this book , the experiences that the doctors battled against, not knowing much about the disease and threatening their life by the possibility of being infected, we can see that without the courage of these doctors we would now not have as many advances as we have. The intensity of the desire to help AIDS patients from the doctors can be seen by their involvement they still maintain today. It is known that physician Stosh Ostrow and Jerry Cade, as of 1999, served on the President' s Advisory Committee on AIDS. As the book states, although they were infected with AIDS, they still participated to not only help themselves but help others also with AIDS as they primarily wished for.When reading this book we can now appreciate the advances made. Not only has discovered medication given many people infected with AIDS more years to live, as the book states, but we can also see the more hopeful benefits towards preventing the disease. From the beginning of the epidemic, the doctors interviewed were involved in learning about the disease. This involvement has now contributed to use the information investigated about the disease to produce a vaccine for AIDS. Although this information is not given in the book, the path towards the vaccine could have started tha

An Extraordinary Oral History

This book tells the history of the first 10 years of the AIDS epidemic through the voices of the women and men who overcame fear and channeled excitement to treat people with this devastating illness. These care givers built careers but also worried about the impact of HIV on their own families. Because this is a history told by the physicians themselves, and is not just a history with occasional quotes, it has an immediacy and humanity that is often lacking in histories. The authors briefly explain their technique of interviewing and selecting passages for the book. Despite the possibility of bias in presentation, because of the ability of the physicians to suppress their own words, the tensions, excitement, fear, pride, and love come through and make this a worthwhile book to read. Whether the reader is interested in the development of the epidemic or the personalities of the physicians who were active during those early years, s/he will be touched by this book.