The Battle With AIDS

On May 3, an article was printed in The Times exposing violations of the state health department codes by the Ahisma care center.

I am not an employee of the state and was only aware of the report after the citations against the center were issued by the health department. My concerns about the nursing home began last November when my orders involving a patient with AIDS were not executed by the staff. After a surprise visit to the facility, officials of the health department have confirmed that the nursing staff failed to respond appropriately to my orders as required by law.

There has never been an intention on my part to start “my own nursing home” as implied in the article.

As a young active physician treating the needs of his community regardless of diagnosis, I do not have the time, energy, or money to sponsor this effort; my goal is to inspire grass-roots interest among citizens of South Orange County to initiate a nonprofit facility guided by a team of volunteer board members not motivated by money but by concern about a crisis which promises to explode in the present decade.

I am appalled that Ahisma supporters have made accusations to the press that I had any ulterior motive at stake in expressing concerns that AIDS victims have a safe refuge for care.

Finally, it is an injustice by Ms. Sharon Lucas to me and to my patients and their families to imply that we are not in the trenches battling this ghastly disease.

With very few days off, I have for the past eight months been “on call” 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide care to my patients with AIDS.

Please don’t accuse me of standing aloof to the crisis at hand.

LEONARD M. LAMONT, MD

Laguna Beach