Was President Reagan’s Privacy Invaded?

Can I be the only reader who was horrified at the gross breach of medical ethics casually recounted in Irene Lacher’s description of a recent party at Arianna Huffington’s (“Huffington’s Grand Old Party,” Sept. 28).

The article quotes Stanley Sheinbaum telling how his physician took him in to see fellow patient Ronald Reagan, who was waiting naked in another examining room. The same physician had earlier told Sheinbaum about the ex-president’s Alzheimer’s disease before the diagnosis was publicly announced.

If Sheinbaum’s stories are accurate, the physician involved deserves to be severely disciplined. Patients, whatever their mental condition, are not curiosities to be shown off to others, and their private matters are not supposed to become the stuff of gossip.

ALEXANDER MORGAN CAPRON

Professor of law and medicine, USC

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I am appalled that the Los Angeles Times repeated the tasteless and cruel story of Stanley Sheinbaum’s encounter with former President Reagan.

One can question Sheinbaum’s judgment in sharing the details of the incident at such a high-profile gathering, but since I was not present, I do not know the context or tone in which he spoke. However, for The Times to exploit this dehumanizing incident is unconscionable. I never liked Reagan’s politics and I do not know him personally, but I was pained by the cruelty of the item as if Reagan had been my own father. Alzheimer’s had already attacked this man’s human dignity. How can you be a party to attacking it further?

HELENA HACKER

ROSENBERG

Los Angeles