Borrowed Time

Paul Monette

2 ideas

1. Roger Horwitz's nineteen months with AIDS

   In March 1985 Roger Horwitz, a Los Angeles attorney and Paul Monette's partner of about a decade, was diagnosed with AIDS. He died in October 1986 after pneumonia, blindness from cytomegalovirus, and a string of experimental treatments the couple chased through doctors, trials, and foreign sources. Monette, who later learned he was infected himself, served as caregiver, advocate, and witness throughout.

2. Early epidemics make patients their own researchers

   When an illness is new and institutions are slow, the burden of finding treatment falls on patients and their partners. They must track rumored drugs, argue for compassionate-use access, find sympathetic doctors, and import unapproved medicines. Survival odds then depend partly on a household's money, connections, and stamina, not only on the disease.

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