Attorney Says 2 Dying Sailors Face Discharge

The U.S. Navy, citing policies that forbid homosexuals in the military, is seeking to discharge two San Diego sailors who are dying of AIDS, the sailors’ attorney said Tuesday.

Charles T. Bumer, who is representing the sailors, said the Navy contends that information in the men’s medical records indicates that they are homosexuals and thus should be discharged and not be entitled to benefits.

Lt. Stephen Pietropaoli, a spokesman for the Department of Navy in Washington, declined to confirm that Daniel Abeita 28, and Brian Kinney, also 28, have been ordered to leave the Navy.

But, describing Navy policy, he said, “Homosexuality is incompatible with military life and seriously impairs the accomplishment of the military mission such as mutual confidence, good morale and active recruitment.

Cites Navy Policy

“It is the Navy’s policy that all homosexuals be separated from the Navy,” he said. “No punitive action is taken when someone has AIDS, that is a medical diagnosis . . . there is only punitive action when a person is homosexual.”

Abeita , has accepted an administrative discharge, effective June 17, and hopes to receive medical treatment through Veterans Administration hospitals, Bumer said.

Kinney , a medical corpsman for seven years, is scheduled to go before an administrative discharge board in San Diego on Monday.

AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is a fatal disorder of the immune system that is believed to be caused by a virus. Most of its victims are homosexual men, and researchers believe that the disease is transmitted through sexual contact.

When Abeita and Kinney were diagnosed as having the fatal disease in May and October, 1984, respectively, an application for medical retirement was automatically forwarded by Navy doctors, according to Kathleen Gilberd, Bumer’s legal assistant.

This set in motion the series of events that eventually led to the Navy’s decision to discharge the men, she said. The application was sent to the Department of the Navy in Washington, where a review board denied the applications for medical retirement and recommended discharge based on the evidence in the medical records, according to Gilberd.

To Deny Benefits

Under the Navy’s plan, both men will be denied medical and disability benefits from the service, Gilberd said.

The attorneys argue, however, that information given to a doctor by a patient is confidential and should not be admissible in the hearing.

Navy spokesman Pietropaoli said, however, that the Navy has no policy protecting the confidentiality of the relationship between patient and doctor.

“The way the Navy is handling this case is really, really frightening, not to mention inhumane,” said Tom Homann, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is helping in the case.

Abeita was undergoing medical treatment Tuesday and Kinney was too sick to speak with a reporter, Bumer said.

Both men have served in the Navy for seven years and have unblemished records, Gilberd said.

In May, a Marin County attorney successfully convinced the Navy to allow medical retirement to an Oakland sailor stricken with AIDS. The Navy backed down from the discharge proceedings after it failed to prove that the man was a homosexual, said the attorney, R. Charles Johnson.

In 1983, the Air Force, for the first time, granted full retirement benefits to Airman 1st Class Raymond Orsini, an AIDS victim stationed at Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino.

In general, the Navy approves medical retirements for sailors with debilitating illnesses. Those medical retirements include pensions and full medical benefits at military hospitals. Even without a medical retirement, the sailors probably will be able to receive treatment at veteran’s hospitals.