Caring for People With AIDS Virus
I am writing in response to the letter from Bill Greene in reference to Dr. Cary Savitch (“Doctor Spreading Fear of AIDS,” Dec. 14). I couldn’t agree more with Greene’s feelings.
As a nurse, I have heard Savitch say that “If you get HIV, you’re dead.” That simply is not true in all cases. The person credited with discovering the AIDS virus even says that HIV and AIDS are two separate disease processes and that AIDS is not caused by HIV. People like Savitch do nothing but spread hate, fear and gross disinformation.
Savitch has forgotten the part of the Hippocratic oath that says “First, do no harm.” His philosophy is in direct conflict with that ideal. He causes great emotional harm to his patients, their families and friends with his beliefs.
If he puts his patients on the standard protocols and then tells them they are going to die anyway, that tells me he needs to either stop treating those patients without first telling them his beliefs or, better yet, stop treating HIV/AIDS patients.
I do not believe he can give them the care and support they deserve because of his prejudices, and that is exactly what they are.
Unfortunately, there are a lot of people who will buy his philosophy as the truth. Just as a number of people a few years ago bought the idea that if we eradicate those we don’t believe are good enough, strong enough or the right color skin, hair or eyes, or are of the wrong religious persuasion, all will be right.
People like Cary Savitch are a menace to the good of society, and to the principles on which this nation was founded. To anyone who has HIV or AIDS, I would strongly urge you to not use Savitch for your physician. Find someone who will treat you with compassion, a trait Savitch seems to have lost.
JOHN ESTES
Ventura
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Letter writer Bill Greene claims I am spreading the fear of AIDS (Dec. 14). He is correct. I do not want anyone to be infected with this deadly virus, not even Bill Greene.
We could fill the Rose Bowl with the new AIDS cases discovered in the next five days. A United Nations report warns that 16,000 people around the world become infected with this disease each and every day. One adolescent becomes infected in the United States every 30 minutes. One woman becomes infected in the world every 20 seconds.
How many more people have to die before AIDS activists have been humbled by this disease?
The book I have written, “The Nutcracker Is Already Dancing,” is a painful journey for someone who is HIV infected to read. But it is an honest clinical response of a doctor who has treated patients from the beginning of the epidemic. More lives will be saved by teaching the truth than by disseminating false hopes. I have chosen not to join the pack.
There has not been a single cure. The value of current therapy is limited. The antiretroviral drugs are unavailable to people not living in communities resembling Thousand Oaks or Camarillo. There is no effective AIDS vaccine and many scientists believe there may never be one. All we have to offer our children is prevention through public health--and it is time we practice it the correct way.
Many AIDS activists, with good intentions, have changed the rules of public health. The tools of testing, reporting, contact tracing, partner notification and direct engagement with those HIV infected have been cast aside. We have chosen to protect the virus, not people.
It is no crime to be HIV infected. Those who are infected should expect the best of care. But it is a crime, a horrible crime, to infect someone else through irresponsible behavior. The control of AIDS rests in the hands and hearts of those who are infected. Are we expecting too much of someone who is HIV infected to not spread the disease and take the lives of others in the process? If this wasn’t happening, then the epidemic would be over.
We need public forums where all points of view can be discussed. Bill Greene is correct on this point. For too long, infectious disease physicians like myself have been intimidated to speak out. As a consequence, this virus has been allowed to spread unchecked. It is now a threat to our own children. Our failure to respond is nothing less than child neglect and endangerment.
The most dangerous disease of our lifetime is being treated as a civil rights issue. A public health emergency has been turned into a public health exception. If I am guilty of malpractice it is because I have remained silent for too long.
CARY SAVITCH, M.D.
Ventura
