Principles of health care ethics

It provides an understandable jolt, and probably a useful one at that. Yet it is also ideological in the sense that large amounts of empirical fact are ignored, albeit this is part of the genre. It is a book about which reviewers will want to say little, except to recommend it to readers for their own judgment. Now, AIDS is as much a heterosexual issue as a homosexual one. The activism of Kramer, who is now HIVpositive himself, will probably have saved human lives in the long run. For courage, he is to be commended. The organization he founded, AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) continues to thrive. This book is a period piece, not a classic, and should be read as a manifesto ofAIDS activism in an era when evidence does suggest more attention might have been devoted to this epidemic more quickly. STEPHEN G POST Centerfor Biomedical Ethics, School ofMedicine, Cerse Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44120, USA