Miami Herald (MH) - Wednesday, July 24, 1991
Patrick May; Herald Staff Writer

With Dr. H. Melton White dying in the Hospice at North Shore Medical Center, investigators from the Florida Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services have had to work through his estranged wife to decide whom to notify.

They said they hoped to send certified letters within the next few days notifying several hundred patients of White's condition, recommending they be tested at either an HRS clinic or by a private physician.

White's is the fourth publicized case of a Florida physician or dentist stricken with AIDS, although 600 health care workers in the state have been diagnosed with the virus, said Thomas Liberti, deputy chief of the state's AIDS program. In last year's high-profile case of a Stuart dentist, Dr. David J. Acer, HRS investigators notified about 2,000 patients, 850 of whom were subsequently tested by HRS. Seven were HIV-positive, and further tests revealed that five of them may have contracted the virus from Acer.

That story alarmed the public. But according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Acer's case remains the only one in the United States in which there is evidence suggesting a patient got the AIDS virus from a health-care worker.

Thousands of other patients have been tested after learning their doctors or dentists were infected. All either tested negative or had other risk factors that explained their HIV infection.

Citing confidentiality laws, state AIDS experts Tuesday would not formally identify White by name, referring instead to "a Miami dentist with the AIDS virus." But they promised more details at a news conference this morning. Berthenia White, who has been separated from her husband five years, could not be reached for comment. A spokeswoman for the North Shore hospice where White is reportedly staying would not talk about the patient.

White had practiced in Dade 25 years before the illness forced him into retirement about four months ago. A for-lease sign now hangs in front of his padlocked office at 4800 NW Seventh Ave., and neighbors this week said they knew nothing about the dentist's condition.

Some of White's patients, however, learned about his illness through media reports.

"We've gotten calls at the health department from patients," said Olga Connor, an HRS spokeswoman in Miami. "And we've already tested some of them."

It's unclear how many people White had been treating in recent years.

"We've no idea how many patients are involved," said HRS state spokesman Dave Adams. "Finding out would involve a careful review of patients' records, and I'm not sure where they are."

Adams said HRS staffers are "pulling together information on a number of people who have called various clinics in Dade seeking appointments for testing. I'm sure they're getting hundreds of calls, but I just don't know how many appointments have been made."
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