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SOUTHERN VOICE • DECEMBER 29/1994 HEALTH & LAW Dentist who won't treat AIDS patients faces lawsuits Portland, ME—A Bangor dentist who is being sued for his refusal to treat patients with AIDS and HIV denies that his policy was motivated by prejudice against homo sexuals. Dr. Randon Bragdon, who maintains that patients with infectious diseases can not be treated safely in a dentist's office, faces lawsuits under both the Maine Human Rights Act and the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. Bragdon says HIV can spread in ways yet unrecognized and that policymakers are taking the wrong approach by treating the epidemic as a political issue rather than a medical issue. "Dr. Bragdon's political thinking and science is way outside the mainstream," re sponds attorney Bennett Klein, who is han dling both court cases on behalf of the Bos ton-based AIDS Law Project of Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders. A lawsuit was filed against Bragdon in state court early last year by the Maine Hu man Rights Commission and the estate of a Brewer man, identified in the complaint as John Doe, who died of AIDS on in 1992. Doe's complaint said he called Bragdon's office in 1991 forroot canal treat ment only to be told of the policy against treating anyone with HIV or other infectious diseases. Doe went to the Maine Human Rights Commission, which concluded that Bragdon, as owner of a "public accommo dation," had discriminated against Doe. Sidney Abbott, also of Brewer, filed her lawsuit Dec. 1 in U.S. District Court. The suit said that when Abbott told Bragdon that she had HIV, he said he would treat her in a hospital operating room and that she would have to pay the hospital's fee. Klein says writings by Bragdon about HIV and AIDS demonstrate that his policy "is strongly colored by nothing more than pure prejudice towards gay men and other people infected by HIV." Bragdon responds that his practice in cludes gay men and lesbians and that he is doing what he knows is right. "People who want to treat this as a dis ease are not homophobes," he says. ASSOCIATED PRESS PWA argues in court for medicinal marijuana %» i La Plata, MD—A Charles County Mensch said he began using mari- dairy farmer went to court Dec. 19 to ar- juana in 1992, which eliminated nausea, gue that he needs marijuana to help fight helped him regain weight and allowed the effects of HIV. him to return to working on his farm 15 Jerome Mensch, 43, was arrested in hours a day. November 1993 for marijuana possession. While attorneys say the defense is the At the time, he told officers he needed the first in the state, it has been used success- drug to combat nausea and weight loss fully elsewhere, associated with his illness. Robert Randall, president of the Alli- In order to be allowed to use the de- ance for Cannabis Therapeutics, a Wash- fense, Mensch's attorney, Andrew ington-based patients rights group, said Dansicker, said he must prove that 35 states have passed laws recognizing Mensch's life is at risk, that there were no the beneficial effects of marijuana use for reasonable alternatives and that the use cancer and glaucoma patients, is not disproportionate to his medical Dr. Donald Abrams, a professor at the needs. Dansicker planned to have several University of California at San Francisco, medical professionals testify on the effec- said that he has been trying for two years tiveness of marijuana. to win federal approval to launch a study Dansicker said the case most likely of marijuana's effects on AIDS patients, will be tried in March. "There's a lot of anecdotal informa- According to court papers, Mensch tion, but it's never definitively been stud- started using AZT in 1987 after he was ied," he said. diagnosed as being infected with HIV. The Abrams said he learned earlier this AZT began losing its effectiveness in 1992, month that his most recent request was when Mensch started to suffer from bouts rejected by the National Institute of Drug of numbness, diarrhea, nausea and fa- Abuse. tigue, according to a memo Dansicker ASSOCIATED PRESS submitted to the judge. i LAMBDA Apothecary, ie Community, The Your Good He; • C,,C E quarterly n< the Pharmacy loc< Call today to begin recei 1 drop by and pick up a d PHONE 875-9' Physician Referral - Massage Therapy - Smoking Cessal r sletter OR... in RIO MALL time - >ignment of Benefifs