Porn industry healthcare clinic not cooperating, public health officials say
3:24 PM | June 11, 2009
[UPDATE: At least 16 previously unpublicized HIV cases in porn film performers, public health officials say]
Public health officials said today they have had no cooperation from the adult entertainment industry health clinic that recently confirmed a porn actress had tested positive for HIV, hampering their efforts to investigate how she contracted the virus.
The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a San Fernando Valley-based clinic, confirmed the positive test result to The Times on Wednesday. Despite requests from the county and state, AIM officials have not released the actress’ name or provided the name of the production company or companies where she had worked.
“I don’t think we have the degree of cooperation that we would like in cases like this,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, Los Angeles County health officer. “We’d like a little more proactive cooperation.”
Fielding said it is routine for the county to conduct an investigation in cases of disease transmission at the workplace.
AIM officials have told county officials seeking details that they are not required to notify the county until seven days after receiving a confirmatory test, Fielding said. He said AIM said the confirmatory test is not yet complete.
The slow response from AIM – along with publicized comments from clinic representatives downplaying the incident and saying it is not a “major event” – has worried health officials who fear that little has changed in the five years since an HIV outbreak among porn performers shut down production in the multibillion dollar industry for a month.
In the 2004 outbreak, a porn actor spread the virus to three actresses he had worked with and another unrelated performer also tested positive. A series of public hearings prompted legislation to force safer practices, but the bill quietly expired without a vote.
–Kimi Yoshino and Rong-Gong Lin II
BOHICA!
It looks like AIM is trying to make things even worse.
There is a seperate division to which HIV positives are reported by name to the county. AIM and the lab that performs the test are required to do this. The problem is that this sepreate division does NOT give this informTION to the division in question.
The county, and DR. Fieldings request to AIM for the name of the company the performer worked for is NOT part of the required reporting.
When AIM fullfills its legal reporting obligation then the county can persue its investingation and ask the performer herself who she worked for.
As far as the public health officials claiming that little has changed since 2004, they are absolutely correct. They themselves have done NOTHING, and the legislature has done nothing. The ONLY reason the public health department know anything about whats happening in the industry is because of AIM. Wihtout AIM there would be no information whatsoever from any source.
I was a B-list performer from 96 to 98. This industry’s frighteningly short attention span never ceases to amaze me. AIM and Sharon Mitchell did the exact same thing when it came to Marc Wallice’s suspect test, resulting in the infection of several other female performers. Just before this situation occurred, I was sent to a hardcore magazine shoot, by my caring agents Jim South and Steve Austin. Steve went on and on about how great it would be for a newbie like me to work with a legend like Wallice, and what a wonderful person he was. The day of the shoot, I end up getting horribly lost, driving from my little suburb of Chino to the big, bad Valley. These were the days before navigation and cell phones, so I ended up arriving an hour late for the shoot, which is very frowned upon; time is money. Immediately upon my arrival, I was confronted by an angry, raging German woman with a butch haircut. After screaming some choice words at me and just generally spewing evil at me, she ordered me to get dressed for the shoot. I felt tears stinging my eyes, and I decided to get the hell outta there. I cried the whole way home, my car was on the verge of being repossessed and I really needed the money. On top of that, I was sure I just ruined my reputation in the industry, as I’d just pissed off this powerful photographer who has a stellar reputation in the in this business. Two days later, I along with the rest of the industry, minus AIM and Sharon Mitchell, found out Marc Wallice faked his tests and infected other performers. Yes, AIM already knew. They did not immediately release the information as soon as they had it, nor did they immediately “launch an investigation”. Needless to say, I gave up my silly dreams of becoming the next Jenna Jameson in favor of living. I promply got out of the biz, even though it still rears it’s ugly head from time to time in the form of a herpes infection. Thank you Dave Hardman! But, I digress. Sharon Mitchell is a joke, and whoever let this drug-addled, disgusting shell of a human being take charge of any form of public health, is seriously delusional. Healthcare in porn should be AIM’s top priority, but instead they are nit-picking about who’s test they are going to pay for. Why hasn’t a legitimate union formed on behalf of these people risking their lives? Even In-N-Out gives their employees healthcare. Where is the anger here people?? Stand up!! Why can’t AIM get a real doctor to run this organization? A doctor with ethics instead of dollars signs in their eyes? When is enough enough?
Wow, somebody sounds bitter. And after only two years! What it comes down to here, my dear, is PERSONAL responsibility. If performers are under the delusion that ANY federal, state, county, or private agency can keep them completely “safe,” then they are sadly mistaken. We work in a high-risk workplace, and we must accept that fact. Period. Cal-OSHA supporters love to apply the analogy of construction workers in comparison to the sex-worker industry, but a hardhat won’t save your ass if you don’t take it upon yourself to be aware of the steel beam potentially dropping on your head! You can only ever be so safe, but never completely safe.
In the case of AIM, perhaps mistakes were made regarding the recent episode, but that will be revealed only after a thorough investigation. The ridiculous accusations being thrown around here and elsewhere are based entirely on conjecture and nothing else. People need to relax and wait for the FACTS.
The characterization to which you ascribe Sharon Mitchell is unnecessary and stupid and has no factual basis. She and her staff are a highly dedicated group of professionals, and without them I assure you that our industry would have been regulated out of existence long ago. No system is 100% perfect, and if you think that the State of Broken California can run an adult-oriented testing process better than AIM, then you better start investing in the Tooth Fairy as well. Any system can benefit from improvement, and I believe that AIM will be responsible to address any shortcomings that may have ALLEGEDLY contributed to this current situation. But it is PERSONAL responsibility that must be taken by each and every performer, to ensure that they are regularly tested, that ALL of their sexual partners (working and, more importantly, civilian) are regularly tested (with proper docs to prove it!), that they actually carefully examine ALL docs presented before ANY sexual contact, and demand the use of condoms if you feel this PERSONALLY required. If this means that you get less work, then that is your PERSONAL decision and responsibility, and what you must expect for exercising it. But do your own PERSONAL due diligence.
I’m amazed that anyone would willingly invite government regulation in any form into our industry. If you need an example of what that will do, then look no further than the asinine medical costs resulting from medical malpractice insurance. The financial burden that regulation and medical liability could potentially present to adult content producers is such that it would either result in significantly reduced pay for performers (did you folks ever consider that?), significant reduction in overall production (see previous point), or the outright disappearance of professional studios/production companies, leaving only totally unregulated renegade operations that could give a rat’s ass about anyone’s safety. Take your choice.
Finally, the condom issue: Consumers will stop buying porn if condoms are mandated; at least the reduction in sales will be significant enough to put all of us professional people out of business, again, leaving only the worst of the worst. The only recourse will be to move operations out of the US and away from regulation. Market forces will prevail, and we’ll have to adapt or give it up.
So, Amberwamber, you dodged a bullet with Marc Wallice. Congratulations. Others weren’t so lucky. The fact remains that he FAKED his docs, and no amount of scrutiny – government or otherwise – could have averted the result of his PERSONAL decision, and his utter lack of PERSONAL responsibility. Wallice is dead, and that’s karma in action. To all performers who are feeling their safety threatened within their PERSONALLY CHOSEN line of work, I say this: Double up your testing schedule (bite the bullet and put your money down – simple); make the extra effort to go online yourself and verify the status of your partners (even if it pisses off people on-set — tough, it’s YOUR health, right?); if you are unsafe in your personal life, then DON’T WORK IN MY INDUSTRY!; and if you’re a producer, DO YOUR FUCKING JOB and ensure that EVERYONE on your set has their paper in order!
Unlike you, Amberwamber, we still work in this industry, and our anger is justified. Now go take your Valtrex, and good luck to you.
TA makes some good points here..it is not believable that the industry could ever become mainstream or condom only.. why? consumers pay market price for porn, the cost of shooting porn in california under full workers comp and healthcare benefits would possible triple…
so the consumers would buy european or canadian porn instead.. same with condoms, if we have condom only rules, the pornstars would quickly relocate to areas where these policies are not enforced.
However TA is completely off by saying “She and her staff are a highly dedicated group of professionals”
They are mostly a bunch of clowns and rejects..I have long ago sent my people to draw stations instead of the AIM office to avoid the complete circus going on at their offices..
The AIM organization in my mind is however a good valuable service.
Thanks, my friend. I’m solely speaking from my own experience with AIM, but I’ve heard other comments such as yours, so I guess people have to draw their own conclusions. I agree that AIM could benefit from the addition of more experienced medical personnel.
One important point I should have added to my comment regarding Wallice’s forged medical doc, was that it was spotted right off the bat when he presented it on set. It appeared questionable to production people and the director – it was a photocopy! – and therefore NEVER should have been accepted. People failed to do their job properly, and the results were dire.
I’m a little ignorant about AIM. Is it practically a monopoly on giving adult performers STD tests? Are there better places available?
I would think with 99% of all US porn being made in California there would be MANY STD testing options available for adult performers.
Of course, I’m usually wrong..
Wallice is not dead and was working to TTBoy last year.
Pornster, the insutry uses AIM exclusivley for several reasons. One of them bieng that they have the talent sign a waiver that allows them to disclose the results their tests to potential work partners, as well as keeping an ongoing record of talent tests, should a situation like we have now arise.(haveing a history of previous negative results helps to narrow down potential time periods of exposure.)
They are also the least expensive place i the United States to get the PCR tests, and they have a one day turn around time. There are other “political’ reasons that could be debated ad nauseum, so lets not get into that.
Also, if everyone was going to different places it would be much more difficult to verify tests, if not impossible because NO other dorctor or clinic will tell a third party what someone elses HIV result is.
Hope that helps you understand the system a little better>
Thanks General, your comments were very helpful.