Each of us, whether medically qualified or not, may claim a hearing for our views. In publishing this account of AIDS, I lay claim to the status of a health care consumer who has undertaken to communicate with his fellow Australians. Denunciation has no place in such discussions. I call on the relevant ministers to ensure that public authority is not abused to stifle discussion. Finally, a note on style.
Narratives break through faceless abstraction to exhibit named human beings acting and suffering.
The basic event contemplated by this little book is humanity's encounter with the creature of its own making, scientific medicine. It is a sub-plot in the larger drama of humanity's encounter with science and technology. The essential plot of the story I tell is not new. It was told by the medical scientist Ren Dubos in his wise book, The Mirage of Health. It was told again by Daniel Callahan in his courageous attempt to grapple with health care for the aged, Setting Limits.