Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1992. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Tuesday, August 18, 1992
Soaring medical bills have left about half of the patients destitute, unable to pay the rent or buy groceries, according to the first national survey of people carrying the HIV virus, which leads to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
"People with HIV . . . are at great risk of being assaulted and hurt," said William Freeman, executive director of the National Association of People with AIDS, which conducted the survey.
"The alarming rate of violence may reflect an irrational and growing fear of AIDS. That certainly should make Americans take pause," he said.
The association said it distributed questionnaires at more than 1,200 locations and received more than 1,800 responses. It said there were responses from 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
More than 12 percent of the AIDS patients answering the survey said they had been abused in their home, and 21.4 percent said they had experienced violence in the larger community.
Examples of abuse ran the gamut from name calling to beatings, Freeman said.
The report also found that women and members of minority groups were more likely than white males to be victims of domestic violence.
These groups also had a harder time getting access to health care and were more likely to report discrimination from doctors and nurses giving them care.
Overall, the survey found one-third of AIDS patients needed help getting health insurance and medicine and a quarter had a hard time gaining access to health care.
More than 36 percent reported incidents of health care discrimination, with one individual saying, "Health care workers seem afraid because I have HIV."
A quarter said their illness made it tough to carry out the most basic daily chores, like cooking or shopping.
Freeman said the association plans to give copies of the report to lawmakers and intends to work out a specific agenda for action on the AIDS epidemic.
Almost half the people answering the survey had AIDS and the rest carried the HIV virus. Only 12 percent of respondents were female and four-fifths of the total were white.
Most of the men (78 percent) said they got the virus through homosexual activity. Sixty percent of women said they were infected by men. Almost 10 percent said they did not know how they got the disease.
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