Let the AIDS-Infected Health-Care Workers Treat Other AIDS Victims

The article about Dr. Don Hagan, a physician with the AIDS virus, offers a profile in courage that stands in sharp contrast to the appalling display we witnessed during the debate over AB 101.

By his tasteless tirade of lies, misinformation and blatant hatred, Assemblyman David Knowles (R-Sacramento) has embarrassed both himself and the Legislature. The Assembly should censure him and repudiate his ranting, and his constituents should reject him. What a waste of otherwise productive legislative time, public funds and--tragically--human energy this disgusting incident represents.

In contrast, The Times has offered us a response to AIDS that is both human and humane. Dr. Hagan’s first concerns have been for his colleagues and patients and his community. They, in turn, have responded with caring and, most important, with accurate information.

Both these examples reflect the tragic paradox of AIDS. AIDS evokes in some their darkest thoughts and most reprehensible actions. Yet in others, often those whose very lives it destroys, it elicits that which is most ennobling and compassionate.

JOEL M. LEE, Irvine