When the first edition of this book (called AIDS and the Law: A Guide for the Public) went to press in 1988, the legal profession had just recently "discovered" the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). There were only a handful of judicial decisions involving the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and AIDS and few books that covered the legal issues raised by the epidemic. Since then, AIDS has become the most litigated of diseases in the United States.
AIDS and the Law was written in lay terms and intended as a guide for the public rather than for lawyers. The book consists of a first chapter titled "A Little Law for Non-Lawyers," a section reviewing the medical background of AIDS, a comparison to other epidemics in history, an analysis of the relationship between lawyers and physicians, and 16 essays on a wide range of social, political, financial, and practical issues related to