Governor Doesn’t Understand AIDS, 2 Doctors Charge

Two prominent physicians who spoke with Gov. George Deukmejian by telephone about his endorsement of Proposition 102, the controversial AIDS initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot, said Monday that the governor seemed to have a poor grasp of basic facts about the disease and health measures used to control it.

“It was very bizarre,” said Dr. Laurens White, president of the California Medical Assn., which has been joined by most major health figures in the state and the governor’s own advisers in opposing the initiative.

“We could not get an explanation from him,” he said, without giving details of the conversation.

Deukmejian’s surprise endorsement of the measure, which is sponsored by Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) and Paul Gann, drew heated reaction over the weekend from medical experts, political opponents and, in San Francisco, from gays who demonstrated by marching in the streets.

The reaction continued Monday in Los Angeles when the governor’s most famous appointee to the state AIDS task force, Dr. Michael Gottlieb, threatened to resign if Deukmejian did not change his mind. Gottlieb was co-discoverer of the virus that causes AIDS while a researcher at UCLA.

“His endorsement ignores the collective medical wisdom of the national and international experts whose strategies to fight this disease are already working,” Gottlieb said. “As the doctor who discovered the first cases of AIDS in California seven years ago, I ask the governor how destruction of the AIDS research program in California will stop this epidemic.”

In Sacramento, Deukmejian’s press secretary said the governor was sticking to his decision. “The governor is not going to change his mind,” Kevin Brett said. “He certainly is not surprised by any of the reaction. He expected it. The bottom line is he thinks Proposition 102 is reasonable.”

In announcing his decision Friday, Deukmejian said in a statement that he had weighed all the arguments.

“I have carefully considered the opinions of the experts on both sides and have determined that the additional tools provided by this measure will advance rather than impede efforts to stop the spread of AIDS,” the governor’s statement read.

A few hours after it was released, Deukmejian spoke by phone with White and Dr. Marcus Conant, a physician who treats AIDS patients and who is chairman of the governor’s AIDS Leadership Committee. The committee had unanimously urged the governor to oppose Proposition 102.

The physicians declined to quote from the conversation but said Monday that they tried to explain the damage that could be done to existing AIDS efforts if the measure passes. But, they said Monday, the governor said he had talked to both sides and felt there was more benefit to passing the measure.

Both physicians said they came away from the conversation convinced that Deukmejian does not understand the basic facts of AIDS, including how the disease is transmitted and why most medical experts have endorsed the practice of confidential testing and public education as the most effective measures against AIDS.

“I think he was seriously misled,” Conant said. “I find it difficult to believe that anyone who has a basic knowledge of AIDS could endorse Proposition 102.” Said White in a separate interview: “We both are sort of baffled because there is unanimity on his own AIDS advisory committee that this is a bad idea.”

The governor’s press secretary suggested Monday that “their summation be taken with a grain of salt considering they are very disgruntled.”

Sponsors say Proposition 102 will cause AIDS to be treated in the law like other communicable diseases. The measure will require reporting anyone who tests positive for the human immunodeficiency virus that leads to AIDS and also require health officials to investigate the sexual practices of people who are infected to determine if the virus may have been passed on. It would also ban anonymous testing and allow insurance companies and employers to use HIV tests.

Opponents argue, however, that the measure will destroy the current system of anonymous testing and mass education. Instead, health officials will have to spend millions of dollars compiling names and details on people who test positive even though the data will not be medically useful, critics say. The state legislative analyst estimates the cost to taxpayers could be hundreds of millions of dollars to trace sexual contacts and care for AIDS patients who lose their insurance and jobs.

Gottlieb and other AIDS researchers also say that research will be hurt because many fewer people will volunteer to be tested for fear their names will be reported and their sex lives investigated by state authorities.

In the past week, the deans of the Schools of Public Health at UCLA, UC Berkeley, San Diego State and Loma Linda University criticized Proposition 102 as based on the “scientifically inaccurate and dangerous premise” that AIDS is easily spread.

Last Friday, UC President David Gardner, USC President James Zumberge and the heads of Stanford, UCLA and UC Berkeley also called for defeat of Proposition 102.

The opposition campaign was so confident that they had produced a television commercial that highlighted the governor’s expected support of their cause. Now they are forced to try to play down the value of Deukmejian’s backing for the other side.