AIDS Abraham Verghese Treated Patients With AIDS

AIDS

Abraham Verghese treated patients with AIDS before the medical community knew that the HIV virus precipitated the deadly disease. Although his book My Own Country contains a slew of inspiring and poignant case studies, Verghese's earliest cases are the most engaging and informative. Because so little was known about AIDS when Verghese first started treating his patients, the doctor dealt with both limited medical resources and the prejudices that surrounded his patients. I was particularly affected by the case of Gordon Vine, Verghese's first real AIDS patient. Tony Capellucci, his first gay patient, probably also had HIV / AIDS but was not properly diagnosed. Gordon Vine's story shows not only how difficult it was for Verghese to treat the various symptoms of AIDS, but also how hard it was for him to earn the support of his fellow doctors and nurses. Furthermore, Gordon's case illustrates Verghese's personal, genuinely caring approach towards treating his patients. He emerges not as a money-motivated physician but one who truly treats people in need. For example, his interactions with Gordon's sister Essie are beyond the level of a typical doctor-patient relationship today; Verghese asks personal questions of her to better understand Gordon's background so that he can improve his understanding of the disease. Verghese also expresses interest in the entire family and points attention to Gordon's loving but biased parents.

Verghese's childlike enthusiasm for helping people with the debilitating disease is evident even before he met Gordon. He tells his pregnant wife that his first AIDS case is arriving and immediately meets with her fear and unspoken disapproval. While Rajani's fears are understandable in light of the highly contagious nature of the disease, what I found particularly remarkable was Verghese's total fearlessness. He obviously cares deeply for his patients and for improving understanding and awareness of AIDS. Just as fascinating is Verghese's open-mindedness about human sexuality. When he first started seeing AIDS patients, Verghese sought to better understand the gay community. Rather than shy away from asking pointed questions, the doctor deliberately delved into the personal lives of patients like Gordon so that he could grasp the social implications of the disease.

Several aspects of Gordon's case were not unique. Throughout his career treating AIDS patients in Tennessee, Verghese met with harsh negativity from nurses as well as the family members of the patients. For example, Gordon's parents were in total denial of their son's sexual orientation. Verghese not only seeks to cure the disease but also hopes to treat the underlying assumptions and prejudices that prevent proper healing. As the author states on page 88, AIDS served "as the litmus test for nurses and physicians," many of whom balked at even going near patients with AIDS. Verghese stands in direct contrast to these medical professionals, as one who literally took to the front lines with regards to this misunderstood illness. Reading My Own Country made me deeply appreciative of professionals like Verghese and hopeful that the views of the medical community and of society in general have changed for the better.

Verghese worked in an atmosphere that was at times blatantly intolerant of homosexuality. Homophobia fueled fear of AIDS; when Verghese was treating people like Gordon, most AIDS patients had contracted the disease through homosexual contact. Many nurses and doctors went so far as to assume that AIDS patients did not deserve to be treated in American hospitals. This gross injustice pained Verghese but did not prevent him from properly caring for those dying of AIDS or living with HIV. The AIDS epidemic impacted Verghese's life in a number of different ways: it changed the way he felt about the medical profession in general, about AIDS in particular, and about homosexuality as well.

Verghese, as a foreign national, also gained much insight into American culture through his experiences in Tennessee. In many ways, My Own Country is a memoir about a foreign doctor's encounter with the American medical community. Because he was familiar diseases and living conditions in the Third World, Verghese brought unique insight and awareness to the sleek American hospital. His initial feelings about homosexuality were, as he notes, typical of the heterosexual American male: he "picked up and parroted the snide asides and took part in the buffoonery and condescension that constituted the heterosexual response to homosexuality," (23). However, as he began treating patients with AIDS, Verghese set aside these shallow views in favor of a remarkably broad-minded perspective. Curious about gay culture, Verghese examined and questioned his own sexuality and sexual orientation. This is one of the key ways the AIDS epidemic impacted Verghese's life on a personal level.