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Knowing the HIV status of a surgeon or dentist should not necessarily reassure a patient. "These are people who are exposed to patients every day," says Dr. Michael Callahan, chairman of an AIDS task force for the American College of Emergency Physicians. Yet it can take a person six months after infection to make enough antibodies against HIV to test positive. Says Callahan: "If I got tested yesterday and was negative, I might get exposed to HIV tomorrow." In addition, the danger of bad sterilization practices is that the virus passes from one patient to the next, rather than from the doctor.
Instead of becoming enemies, doctors and patients need to communicate better about the risk and fear of AIDS. Dr. Nancy Dickey, a Richmond, Texas, family practitioner and a trustee of the American Medical Association, says patients should not hesitate to voice concern if, for example, they see blood on their doctor's hands, even if the physician says, "Don't worry about it." They also have a right to ask exactly how each piece of equipment has been sterilized. As the AIDS epidemic enters its second decade, professionals and private citizens alike should choose a path of reasoned caution, rather than dismissive bravado or irrational hysteria.