Facing It


Book Description

For a generation or more, literary theorists have used the metaphor of "the death of the author" in considering the observation that to write is to abdicate control over the meanings one's text is capable of generating. But in the case of AIDS diaries, the metaphor can be literal. Facing It examines the genre not in classificatory terms but pragmatically, as the site of a social interaction. Through a detailed study of three such diaries, originating respectively in France, the United States, and Australia, Ross Chambers demonstrates that issues concerning the politics of AIDS writing and the ethics of reading are linked by a common concern with the problematics of survivorhood. Two of the diaries chosen for special attention in this light are video diaries: La Pudeur ou l'impudeur by Hervé Guibert (author of To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life), and Silverlake Life, by the American videomaker Tom Joslin (aided by his lover and friends, notably Peter Friedman). The third is a defiant but anxious text, Unbecoming, by an American anthropologist, Eric Michaels, who died in Brisbane, Australia, in 1988. Other authors more briefly examined include Pascal de Duve, Bertrand Duquénelle, Alain Emmanuel Dreuilhe, David Wojnarowicz, Gary Fisher, and the filmmaker (not a diarist) Laurie Lynd. Finally, Facing It takes on the issue of its own relevance, asking what contributions literary criticism can make in the midst of an epidemic. "Groundbreaking in its approach and potentially wide in its appeal. . . . The rigor of the ideas, their dramatic nature, and the political drive of the rhetoric all should win Facing It a large readership that could extend far beyond students of narrative or queer theory." --David Bergman, Towson University, editor of Camp Grounds: Style and Homosexuality Ross Chambers is Distinguished University Professor of French and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan, and author of Room for Maneuver: Reading (the) Oppositional (in) Narrative and Story and Situation: Narrative Seduction and the Power of Fiction.




Dying Inside


Book Description

"The HIV+ men incarcerated in Limestone Prison's Dorm 16 were put there to be forgotten. Not only do Benjamin Fleury-Steiner and Carla Crowder bring these men to life, Fleury-Steiner and Crowder also insist on placing these men in the middle of critical conversations about health policy, mass incarceration, and race. Dense with firsthand accounts, Dying Inside is a nimble, far-ranging and unblinking look at the cruelty inherent in our current penal policies." ---Lisa Kung, Director, Southern Center for Human Rights "The looming prison health crisis, documented here at its extreme, is a shocking stain on American values and a clear opportunity to rethink our carceral approach to security." ---Jonathan Simon, University of California, Berkeley "Dying Inside is a riveting account of a health crisis in a hidden prison facility." ---Michael Musheno, San Francisco State University, and coauthor of Deployed "This fresh and original study should prick all of our consciences about the horrific consequences of the massive carceral state the United States has built over the last three decades." ---Marie Gottschalk, University of Pennsylvania, and author of The Prison and the Gallows "An important, bold, and humanitarian book." ---Alison Liebling, University of Cambridge "Fleury-Steiner makes a compelling case that inmate health care in America's prisons and jails has reached the point of catastrophe." ---Sharon Dolovich, University of California, Los Angeles "Fleury-Steiner's persuasive argument not only exposes the sins of commission and omission on prison cellblocks, but also does an excellent job of showing how these problems are the natural result of our nation's shortsighted and punitive criminal justice policy." ---Allen Hornblum, Temple University, and author of Sentenced to Science Dying Inside brings the reader face-to-face with the nightmarish conditions inside Limestone Prison's Dorm 16---the segregated HIV ward. Here, patients chained to beds share their space with insects and vermin in the filthy, drafty rooms, and contagious diseases spread like wildfire through a population with untreated---or poorly managed at best---HIV. While Dorm 16 is a particularly horrific human rights tragedy, it is also a symptom of a disease afflicting the entire U.S. prison system. In recent decades, prison populations have exploded as Americans made mass incarceration the solution to crime, drugs, and other social problems even as privatization of prison services, especially health care, resulted in an overcrowded, underfunded system in which the most marginalized members of our society slowly wither from what the author calls "lethal abandonment." This eye-opening account of one prison's failed health-care standards is a wake-up call, asking us to examine how we treat our forgotten citizens and compelling us to rethink the American prison system in this increasingly punitive age.




Diary of A Dying Aids Patient


Book Description

As an only child of a devout Christian couple, Kelly is raised to become the kind of daughter any parent would be proud of. Every choice she makes is grounded on the values and lessons her parents instilled in her. Kelly has a steadfast hold on her beliefs, one of which is to give herself only to the man she will marry. Her boyfriend believes otherwise and when Kelly refuses to give in to his desires, he leaves her for another woman. Kelly's attempts to get over her heartbreak and establish a successful business both fail. She decides to take her chance in New York where a job as a real estate broker awaits. Living a fastpaced life lifts Kelly's mind off her previous disappointment. With a great job and a more luxurious life, all Kelly needs is a man who will love and respect her. Kevin, an investment banker, enters Kelly's life and they immediately fall in love. Married life suits both Kelly and Kevin, until an undisclosed part of Kevin's past comes out in the open. Upon learning that she has been infected with HIV, Kelly finds out that Kevin had been in a homosexual relationship with a man who has AIDS. With the disease taking a toll on Kelly's body, Kevin decides to end their marriage and go on with their lives separately. Betrayed and brokenhearted, Kelly goes back home to her parents, where she spends the remaining days of her life.




The Search for an AIDS Vaccine


Book Description

"The book is a balanced and comprehensive treatment of an important social issue. It is accessible to the general reader and belongs in public as well as academic libraries." -- Religious Studies Review "Painstaking analysis of the knotty ethical problems involved in human-subjects research, and a well-thought-out proposal for a community approach to conducting field trials for an HIV vaccine.... Highly recommended for medical ethicists and anyone concerned about the AIDS epidemic and how HIV research is conducted."Â -- Kirkus Reviews "... a carefully reasoned account of how research for and trial of a preventive vaccine differ from the methods used to discover a therapy."Â -- Booklist "I highly recommend reading this book which I would attest to be a thrilling, ethically challenging, and informative descent into the allopathic solution." -- Ryan Hosken, Bastyr University Library Newsletter "As the scientific effort to produce an efficacious vaccine continues, [Grady's] work provides an ethical compass that will guide us well, regardless of where phase III HIV vaccine trials ultimately occur." -- Journal of the American Medical Association "Highly recommended... " -- AIDS Book Review Journal "A remarkable treatment of a most difficult and complex subject... Grady's book is of special merit because it is simple, readable, and understandable, while conveying in-depth perceptions that are critical to the reader. A useful and essential reference work for those who would engage in the initiative to bring about a resolution of a mighty human health problem." -- Maurice R. Hilleman, Ph.D., D.Sc., Director, Merck Institute for Therapeutic Research "Dr. Grady's important study captures the complexity of the search for an AIDS vaccine with startling clarity. Her insights into the full range of forces that shape our national response to AIDS vaccine development should read like signposts to vaccinologists, AIDS community activists, and most importantly, the Public Health Service. An impressive contribution." -- Derek Hodel, Gay Men's Health Crisis "This book is recommended to medical ethicists, those involved in non-HIV vaccine trials, and all persons involved in HIV vaccine trials, including investigators, sponsors, study subjects and communities at risk." -- Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law The creation of a vaccine now seems the best hope for controlling AIDS. Yet developing and testing an HIV vaccine raises a host of difficult ethical issues. These concerns are the focus of this timely and important book. Essential reading for everyone interested in ethics and the conduct of HIV vaccine research.




Death of the Good Doctor


Book Description

DEATH OF THE GOOD DOCTOR-LESSONS FROM THE HEART OF THE AIDS EPIDEMIC A physician's memoir Kate Scannell abandoned her academic career in 1985 expecting to enter an "ordinary" medical practice in Northern California. Instead, the thirty-two-year-old physician found herself assigned to an Alameda county hospital's AIDS ward where much of the medicine she had studied over many difficult years was rendered irrelevant. Working with AIDS patients, nearly all of whom were dying, Scannell discovered the inadequacy of the "good doctor" who battles illness to keep patients alive regardless of their suffering. By embracing her patients' unique needs and stories, Scannell reached an expanded understanding of her patients and of herself as a physician.




Approaching Death


Book Description

When the end of life makes its inevitable appearance, people should be able to expect reliable, humane, and effective caregiving. Yet too many dying people suffer unnecessarily. While an "overtreated" dying is feared, untreated pain or emotional abandonment are equally frightening. Approaching Death reflects a wide-ranging effort to understand what we know about care at the end of life, what we have yet to learn, and what we know but do not adequately apply. It seeks to build understanding of what constitutes good care for the dying and offers recommendations to decisionmakers that address specific barriers to achieving good care. This volume offers a profile of when, where, and how Americans die. It examines the dimensions of caring at the end of life: Determining diagnosis and prognosis and communicating these to patient and family. Establishing clinical and personal goals. Matching physical, psychological, spiritual, and practical care strategies to the patient's values and circumstances. Approaching Death considers the dying experience in hospitals, nursing homes, and other settings and the role of interdisciplinary teams and managed care. It offers perspectives on quality measurement and improvement, the role of practice guidelines, cost concerns, and legal issues such as assisted suicide. The book proposes how health professionals can become better prepared to care well for those who are dying and to understand that these are not patients for whom "nothing can be done."




Living with HIV and Dying with AIDS


Book Description

There is now a vast literature on HIV and AIDS but much of it is based on traditional biomedical or epidemiological approaches. Hence it tells us very little about the experiences of the millions of people whose living and dying constitute the reality of this devastating pandemic. Doyal brings together findings from a wide range of empirical studies spanning the social sciences to explore experiences of HIV positive people across the world. This will illustrate how the disease is physically manifested and psychologically internalised by individuals in diverse ways depending on the biological, social, cultural and economic circumstances in which they find themselves. A proper understanding of these commonalities and differences will be essential if future strategies are to be effective in mitigating the effects of HIV and AIDS. Doyal shows that such initiatives will also require a better appreciation of the needs and rights of those affected within the wider context of global inequalities and injustices. Finally, she outlines approaches to address these challenges. This book will appeal to everyone involved in struggles to improve the well-being of those with HIV and AIDS. While academically rigorous, it is written in an accessible manner that transcends specific disciplines and, through its extensive bibliography, provides diverse source material for future teaching, learning and research.




And The Band Played on


Book Description

An investigative account of the medical, sexual, and scientific questions surrounding the spread of AIDS across the country.




The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States


Book Description

Europe's "Black Death" contributed to the rise of nation states, mercantile economies, and even the Reformation. Will the AIDS epidemic have similar dramatic effects on the social and political landscape of the twenty-first century? This readable volume looks at the impact of AIDS since its emergence and suggests its effects in the next decade, when a million or more Americans will likely die of the disease. The Social Impact of AIDS in the United States addresses some of the most sensitive and controversial issues in the public debate over AIDS. This landmark book explores how AIDS has affected fundamental policies and practices in our major institutions, examining: How America's major religious organizations have dealt with sometimes conflicting values: the imperative of care for the sick versus traditional views of homosexuality and drug use. Hotly debated public health measures, such as HIV antibody testing and screening, tracing of sexual contacts, and quarantine. The potential risk of HIV infection to and from health care workers. How AIDS activists have brought about major change in the way new drugs are brought to the marketplace. The impact of AIDS on community-based organizations, from volunteers caring for individuals to the highly political ACT-UP organization. Coping with HIV infection in prisons. Two case studies shed light on HIV and the family relationship. One reports on some efforts to gain legal recognition for nonmarital relationships, and the other examines foster care programs for newborns with the HIV virus. A case study of New York City details how selected institutions interact to give what may be a picture of AIDS in the future. This clear and comprehensive presentation will be of interest to anyone concerned about AIDS and its impact on the country: health professionals, sociologists, psychologists, advocates for at-risk populations, and interested individuals.




Taking Turns


Book Description

Fear of contagion, isolated patients, a surge of overwhelming and unpreventable deaths, and the frontline healthcare workers who shouldered the responsibility of seeing us through a deadly epidemic: as we continue to confront the global pandemic caused by COVID-19, Taking Turns reminds us that we’ve been through this before. Only a few decades ago, the world faced another terrifying and deadly health crisis: HIV/AIDS. Nurse MK Czerwiec began working at the Illinois Masonic Medical Center’s HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 in the 1990s—a pivotal time in the history of AIDS. Deaths from the disease in the United States peaked in 1995 and then dropped drastically in the following years, with the release of effective drug treatments. In this graphic memoir, Czerwiec provides an insider’s view of the lives of healthcare workers, patients, and loved ones from Unit 371. With humor, insight, and emotion, MK shows how the patients and staff cared for one another, how the sick faced their deaths, and how the survivors looked for hope in what seemed, at times, like a hopeless situation. Drawn in a restrained, inviting style, Taking Turns is an open, honest look at suffering, grief, and resilience among a community of medical professionals and patients at the heart of the AIDS epidemic.