AIDS TREATMENT NEWS No. 060 - July 15, 1988
John S. James
Parkland Memorial Hospital, the large county hospital comparable to San Francisco General here, treats over 1,000 patients with AIDS, ARC, or who are HIV positive. Only one full time and one half time physician have to handle this patient load, with 700 patient visits per month. Typical AIDS patients are persons who lost their jobs as the disease progressed, and exhausted their savings, thus becoming indigent.
The lawsuit, brought by the Dallas Gay Alliance and the American Civil Liberties Union AIDS Project, seeks to end these practices:
* A waiting list for AZT. The cost of the drug is not the issue, because the AZT is provided by a State program with Federal funds. But the hospital does not assign enough physicians to monitor patients using the drug.
The lawsuit also names the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, which provides medical personnel--students, residents, fellows, and professors--to the hospital. This medical school rotates its personnel through all 132 of the clinics at Parkland Memorial, except for one--the AIDS clinic. This discrimination exacerbates the shortage of physicians in the AIDS clinic.
The hospital admitted that in the one-month period from April 7 to May 6, 1988, seven people on the AZT waiting list died. These were patients for whom AZT was medically prescribed but not available due to the hospital policy.
* Arbitrary denial of aerosol pentamidine prophylaxis and treatment. The hospital's full-time AIDS physician, after his recent resignation, pointed out that pentamidine costs the hospital about $100. per month per patient, while each hospitalization for pneumocystis costs the hospital $10,000 for the average stay of seven days.
* Rationing of AIDS beds. Persons with AIDS have been forced to wait for a rationed AIDS bed until another patient is discharged or dies, even though other beds are empty. Patients ill enough to need hospitalization have had to wait 12 hours or more for a bed.
Legal Results So Far
The lawsuit was first filed in a state court. Judges in Dallas are assigned at random, and a conservative judge was assigned to the case. But even he ruled against the hospital, forcing it to end the AZT waiting list, deliver aerosol pentamidine, and end the AIDS bed control. He gave the hospital 30 days to comply.
Then the hospital moved the case to the Federal court system. This time a moderate-liberal judge, with a reputation for being very thorough and fair, has been assigned.
Recently the Dallas Gay Alliance has asked the court for permission to change their pleading to a class-action lawsuit, which would include 28,000 people and have a wider impact. The ruling on this motion is pending.
This article cannot do justice to the excellent organizing and action around the Parkland hospital case by the Dallas Gay Alliance and other organizations. This work is a model for organizations elsewhere and may set important legal precedents concerning health care for AIDS and other conditions as well.
For more information, call William Waybourn, president of the Dallas Gay Alliance, (214) 748-2222.
880715
ATN06004
Copyright © 1988 - AIDS Treatment News. Permission granted for noncommercial reproduction, provided that our address and phone number are included if more than short quotations are used. Subscription lists are kept confidential. AIDS Treatment News, Subscription and Editorial Office: 1233 Locust St., 5th floor Philadelphia, PA 19107 800/TREAT-1-2 toll-free email: aidsnews@critpath.org http://www.aidsnews.org
Subscription Information: Call 800/TREAT-1-2: Businesses, Institutions, Professionals: $270/year. Includes early delivery of an extra copy by email. Nonprofit organizations: $135/year. Includes early delivery of an extra copy by email. Individuals: $120/year, or $70 for six months. Special discount for persons with financial difficulties: $54/year, or $30 for six months. If you cannot afford a subscription, please write or call. Outside North, Central, or South America, add air mail postage: $20/year, $10 for six months. Back issues available. Fax subscriptions, bulk rates, and multiple subscriptions are available; contact our office for details. Please send U.S. funds: personal check or bank draft, international postal money order, or travelers checks. VISA, Mastercard, and purchase orders also accepted. ISSN # 1052-4207
AEGiS is made possible through unrestricted grants from Boehringer Ingelheim, the National Library of Medicine, and donations from users like you. Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 1988. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.
AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.
Copyright ©1980, 1988. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .