After the Euphoria: HIV medical technologies from the perspective of their prescribers

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Rosengarten, Marsha; Hart, G.; Flowers, P. and Imrie, J.. 2004. After the Euphoria: HIV medical technologies from the perspective of their prescribers. Sociology of Health and Illness, 26(5), pp. 575-596. ISSN 01419889 [Article]

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Abstract or Description

This paper focuses on the relationship of HIV medical
technologies to current styles of medical practice and highlights
issues posed by the technologies for those working and/or living
with HIV. The paper examines HIV anti-retroviral combination
therapies and associated tests from the perspective of their
prescribers. The prescribers were interviewed during the later part
of 2002 at three London HIV clinics. Their comments, considered
in light of other recent studies in the field, suggest that current
therapies are part of a transitional phase in the epidemic which
informs the identification and negotiation of known risks and
uncertainty. An undetermined but extended life expectancy, afforded
by anti-retroviral therapies, is understood against risk of iatrogenic
diseases and/or viral drug resistance. The tension arising in this
situation of unwanted and even uncertain phenomena poses ethical
dilemmas and affects doctor/patient relations. Indeed, it also
contributes to a reconfiguring of the lived experience of managing
HIV. While the new technologies have offered considerable
advances in the medical management of HIV, they are altering the
nature of HIV medicine both materially and socially. The scenario
is further complicated by the uneven allocation of resources and
different patient health and disease states. The heterogeneity of
resources, disease states and technological effects points to the need
for ongoing and extended evaluation as the relationship between
these and the everyday practice of medicine continues to change.