Dumping HIV-infected patients from private practice.

Physicians in private practice believe they have the freedom to accept or exclude patients. While this may be true on an individual basis, discrimination towards a patient subpopulation violates professional principles and the law. Once the doctor-patient relationship is formed, physicians may not unilaterally and arbitrarily withdraw from the relationship based solely on the patient's human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) serostatus. This article reviews civil and human rights laws along with professional position statements on excluding individuals from care because of their serostatus.