Working out risks
I’d like to raise a couple of points regarding the Scott Watts case
[Scott Bites Back, PN 118, December 2005]. I agree Mr Watts’ employers
handled this case badly and I am, ultimately, glad he won his case.
However, it is appropriate that people living with HIV declare their status
on occupational health forms, particularly if their jobs may involve any level
of risk to others. In Scott’s case there was no established precedent
in law and no well-defined definition of ‘exposure prone’ procedures
(unlike in the healthcare setting) until the new Department of Health guidelines
were released, suggesting that the risk to a biting child was negligible.
I feel your reporting of this case was slightly biased towards Mr Watts. His
employers were right to act first in defence of the children that they care
for and a suspension may have been necessary while the risk was assessed.
Even with a small level of risk, the consequences of a child acquiring HIV
in this setting would have been devastating; for the child, the family, Mr
Watts and his employers. It is hugely
beneficial that we now have an established precedent so that other employees
may not have to experience a similar process, but I feel employers should
not be frightened of investigating such issues if their primary duty of care
is to the children or others for which they care. This should, of course,
still be done in a sensitive and confidential way with regard to the employee.
Name and address supplied
Swooning over Scott
Can you let Scott Watts know that I read the article about him with great
interest. He talked about not being able to trust anyone after what happened
to him; can you please let him know that he can trust me any day (if he wants
to!)
Philip
False advertising?
We are all grateful for HIV drugs but the reality is drug companies want to
sell more of them. They don’t care about us; they care about selling
drugs. The government has called their marketing, which is now twice as much
as they spend on research and development, a “worrying trend”.
What the adverts in PN say to the gay community is that everything is all
right. The effect of the smiling faces and ‘confidence’ messages
is telling us to carry on with what we are doing. In fact, the gay community,
especially the younger generation, is in a terrible crisis. According to a
recent report in the Pink Paper, thirty-five per cent of them are having unsafe
sex.
If drug companies sponsored full-page condom adverts no one would complain,
but they don’t, because more condoms means less HIV. Their marketing
really is as sinister and ultimately as homophobic as that. Furthermore, because
they appear to be investing in the HIV and gay communities, they are doing
it with our blessing.
Michael Cottrell, Brockley
Stuck in limbo
I arrived in this great, free democratic country in January 2001 to join my
wife and daughter marooned here three years earlier due to HIV (all three
of us are HIV positive). A few months later, and after all my immigration/hospital/
solicitor formalities were instituted, I was instructed by the immigration
authorities (without fail, lest you be locked up) to report to a police station
and sign papers every month until my family status was sorted out. This April
marks five years that I’ve been signing these papers and I’m now
left thinking, ‘when will this whole thing stop’? Isn’t
there some timeframe to this mental torture for a sick and law-abiding citizen
like me? Officers at the police station are equally perplexed and now ask
me what kind of crime have I committed to suffer this consequence?
My family and I very much appreciate local people’s hospitality, neighbours’
kindness, the NHS and indeed the local authorities’ attitude and care
given to us free of charge and at the tax payer’s great expense. We
want to pay this back someday but cannot do so because, despite our qualifications,
we are not allowed to work and so we’re idling-by day in, day out.
Much as my family and I would want to go back home to Africa and accept to
die just like all my other family members have done from this illness, the
question still is, what could I have achieved (let alone the Home Office)
if I had not been put on “hold” for eight years here in the UK?
‘Musonda’, Bolton
Always an alternative
Thanks for the article about HIV and hepatitis C co-infection in the December
issue [Hope, HIV & Hep C, PN 118]. As stated in the feature, the treatment
for HCV can be difficult to tolerate for some people and quite a few don’t
complete the 48-week course, either because of severe side effects such as
anaemia or because blood tests suggest an insufficient response to make carrying
on worthwhile.
Failure to complete treatment can be very disappointing and lead to depression,
as the future may seem less hopeful. It’s important to point out that
some co-infected people who have not been able to tolerate interferon and
ribavirin treatment have found alternative therapies useful to help stay well
while they are waiting for new treatments to be licensed. Acupuncture and
Chinese herbs, prescribed by a qualified experienced practitioner, are particularly
popular. The Gateway Clinic in south London, for example, has been treating
co-infected patients for many years.
Philip Cooper
Message from the heart
Having tested positive a few weeks ago, I felt inspired to enter the debate
regarding the prosecution of ‘reckless transmission of HIV’ [Comment,
PN 114, August 2005],
In the UK we all hold ‘some’ awareness of the risks if we don’t
practise safer sex. However, awareness and attitudes to the issues and our
own responsibilities vary between individuals.
It’s hard to pinpoint a time-frame in which an individual may have been
infected, though in some cases, this can be deduced. At the risk of stating
the obvious, the issues surrounding an attempt to evidence specific aspects
of transmission between parties (for the judicial system) must be fraught
with difficulties. I’ve been asked whether I can pin my infection down
to a particular person. Even
if this was possible, the question misses the point; two consenting adults
were involved and both were aware of the risks. There is a very clear distinction
between consensual and ‘forced’ (ie rape) liaisons.
Am I saying the responsibility is to be apportioned? To an extent, yes. I
am not in
a position to pin the blame firmly on them. I hold no personal bitterness
towards the ‘other.’ And I can’t plead that I’m an
innocent victim.
My ‘story’ finds me in a place of distress; student debts, no
job, a long-term relationship break-up and no home left me depressed. Placing
little value on my life, I made a conscious decision to practise unsafe sex.
My diagnosis comes as I emerge from my depression, and with rational thoughts
in the cold light of day I regret the role I played in acquiring my status.
I am clear that I consciously choose to act responsibly in practising safer
sex with all future partners.
Unfortunately some HIV positive people will continue to engage in unsafe sexual
acts. The real question is intent: whether there is a conscious will to act
in such a way that sets out to infect another as an overriding objective through
a secondary act (sex) that can only be conducted with the consent of the other
party involved, and who must hold their own responsibility to self, and others.
My lasting wish is that, by publicising my experience, other individuals who
are in the same position I was in may stop and think, and it may prompt service
providers engaged in HIV preventative work to consider adapting services to
identify and work with people who are depressed and who may be engaging in
self-destructive behaviour. The trend to prosecute individuals who are themselves
affected by the condition has to be an issue of concern. When all is said
and done, it can be reasoned that we are all ‘innocent’ victims
of a virus that, in biological terms, infects as indiscriminately as any other.
Name and address supplied
Happy faces
Your article Saving Face [PN 117, Nov 2005] was of particular interest. I’m
a 39-year-old gay guy who has been living with HIV for ten years. In 2001
I was having problems with my meds and became quite ill. I also developed
some facial lipodystrophy.
My health adviser put me into contact with a consultant who was able to treat
me with New-Fill. I paid for this myself. Although the injections improved
the look of my face, I was still unhappy and lacked confidence in going out,
due to stigmatisation and my looks.
Over the last 18 months I’ve been looking into cosmetic surgery in the
UK, but due to the high prices clinics charge, this is still out of my reach.
My hopes of being able to restart my life were shattered until I read your
article. I started to regain hope and felt uplifted. In particular ‘Philip’s
story’ was of great interest. I read the information about the cosmetic
surgeon in Brussels and the prices are much more affordable, so thank you
very much.
Name and address supplied
Back to the argument
I totally agree with Jerry [Letters, PN 117] in regard to Russell Fleet’s
views on the barebacking club he referred to in his column [Pig Pit and Ping
Pong, PN 116, October 2005]. Having met Russell previously, and aware of the
hard work he has done for other HIV positive men and myself, I owe a lot to
him. However, I’m still deeply dismayed.
I’m sorry Russell, but I’m on my high horse. You quote: “Well,
they shouldn’t be doing it! They are, get over it and deal with the
reality, not the fantasy.”
What is the reality, Russell? I’ve been a positive gay man for eight
years, currently very healthy and on no meds. In my experience there are two
types of gay men with HIV: those that are into some degree of sleazy sex and
those that are not.
It’s the sleazy lot that are on their high horse about barebacking,
not the other way round. Deep down, morally, you must know the operation of
this club is wrong? You’ve found a club that suits your individual sexual
needs and you’re championing it?
I would like to have seen a club open exclusively for HIV gay men that didn’t
have sex as a theme, which would morally have been better and opened it up
to a much larger clientele. What people went on to do from there would be
their own private business. I live in a small town in the West Midlands where
we can only dream of the services positive men in London have. We’re
not jealous of this, but when large London HIV organisations speak, they tend
to speak for the whole country. That’s not how it is; over the years
I’ve motivated myself to speak to other positive men from every part
of the country.
We don’t all share your views; a lot of positive men do accept their
diagnoses responsibly.
This argument about the rights about barebacking is destroying 20 years of
hard work by professionals and volunteers, not alone is it killing gay men.
I’m sick of hearing sleazy poz blokes claiming they’ve got the
right to have the sex they want, including barebacking. Any poz bloke who
knowingly and willingly infects another negative man, regardless of the negative
man’s request, should hang their head in shame and
consider castration.
I have vast experience of bug-chasers. I have been a regular user of the ‘HIV
positive’ chatroom on Gaydar for nearly six years. However, bug chasers
and negative barebackers have hijacked it recently, seeking unsafe sex.
Two years ago Gaydar removed its ‘barebacking’ chatroom. This
could have been an excellent place for those that wanted to practise barebacking
to meet others, but sadly this is not the case.Whatever the argument about
this contentious issue, barebacking kills.
Please don’t forget that.
Peter Duncan, West Midlands
That would be a miracle
As I’m certain Andrew Stimpson had no
intention of benefiting financially from his contracts with the News Of The
World and Mail on Sunday [Comment, PN 118], I’m sure he will donate
all monies received to various HIV charities for them to help every other
diagnosed person who hasn’t been miraculously cured.
Jason, London
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