Too Few Doctors Treating AIDS, Physician Warns

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1993. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Too Few Doctors Treating AIDS, Physician Warns

Toronto Globe and Mail (Canada) (10/22/93) P. A20 (MacLeod, Robert)

Dr. Philip Berger, one of Toronto's leading AIDS doctors, says there is a paucity of physicians in the city willing to treat patients afflicted with AIDS. He says "Outright bigotry, homophobia, and prejudice against intravenous drug users" are the reasons for the decline, and he adds that the work load for doctors willing to administer care to those with AIDS has reached enormous proportions. Dr. Berger says he has seen 16 family doctors or primary care physicians discontinue their AIDS services in the past six years. "There is a fear [among doctors] of being publicly identified as an AIDS doctor," Berger said, citing a study that showed patients are apt to leave a doctor if they know he treats AIDS. He went on say that of Toronto's thousands of medical doctors, only 38 currently treat AIDS patients. Berger's revelation comes on the heels of a report given to the Toronto Board of Health that fingers AIDS as the leading cause of death among Toronto's male community aged 25 to 44. Estimates show that 14,000 people in Ontario have the virus that leads to AIDS.

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