Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters
One of the problems with AIDS is that it causes poverty and instability in those countries where the prevalence is high. Ultimately this may lead to war and terrorism. So we have incentives to prevent this kind of ongoing disaster.
And as a Christian, what right do you have to harden your hearts? I guess it depends on what kind of Christian you are.
A separate issue is how we treat the disease in the United States. We treat it like a big secret, instead of a deadly communicative disease. For other STD's and serious infectious diseases there are laws related to reporting it and warning others that might have contacted the disease from the affected person. In other words, privacy has been favored over stamping out the disease. Privacy has also lead to stigmatization. "HIV victims should be treated like any other person with disease, but we tackle it in an ineffective way, different from any other similar disease." This has multiplied the devastation of this disease.
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I agree that it is treated as a big secret. In fact, a number of years ago when I was working in the funeral business, I embalmed a gentleman who had passed away as a result of full blown AIDS. The problem was that the family didn't say anything to us when we came to get him. He had died at his parents home and they told us he had died of cancer. He certainly had all the physical signs that he had died of cancer - very thin, hollowed facial features, etc.
When I embalmed him, I didn't take the extra precationary steps needed when embalming someone who had died of AIDS or had the HIV virus. It wasn't until I picked up the death certificate from the doctor - 4 days after the funeral, 8 days after I had embalmed him - that I learned that he had died of AIDS related causes. Needless to say, I was ticked off and called the family of the deceased and asked why they had lied to us about the cause of death. They didn't really want to talk about it, but after I informed them that the state of Utah has a law that morticians need to dispose the contaminated blood differently from someone who had died of AIDS than any other diesease because it is bloodborne and that they woul be held responsible for anything bad that could happen as a result of their lying to us, they finally admitted that he had contracted the disease because of his promiscuity with several gay partners.
Pinheads.