A Matter of Death or Sickness

The developing treatment of AIDS in the 1990s was all the rage, and rightly so since it saved so many lives. Now the International Herald Tribune reports that these medicated AIDS patients are experiencing all sorts of illnesses, some related directly to the disease and others not. In fact, the thrust of this article is the exploration of how these illnesses and pre-mature aging affects are related to the very medicine that was used to treat AIDS. Is it melodramatic to ask, is there a fate worse than death?
Polling and research suggests that the number of people successfully treated for AIDS has increased, as has the number of people experiencing painful side effects. Now researchers are focusing on discovering the roots of their pain: natural aging, AIDS, or the medication themselves. The article ends with the question: how are we going to help recovering AIDS patients through the suffering that has resulted from their treatment?
The question that comes to my mind, which was not addressed in the article, is whether it would be ethical not to treat AIDS patients. Obviously, if the person is unable to make a decision it seems that the doctors’ first responsibility is to choose life. Yet, the drugs used result in the pre-mature aging with side affects from heart disease to vascular necrosis. Essentially, research shows that the medicine might not only save lives, but also endanger them in other areas.
So what is the solution to this quandary?
To my mind, as is often the case, the best solution is the truth and education. In other words: to discover as much as possible about the side-affects of medicine and to inform the patient. If the patient is a rational adult they have a decision to make: to receive medicine or to die a natural death. For now, the health professionals can offer true facts about the side effects of the medicine and let each person weigh their options.