Fatal Extraction: The Story Behind the Florida Dentist Accused of Infecting His Patients with HIV and Poisoning Public Health - Hardcover

Rom, Mark C.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0787909912 ISBN 13: 9780787909918

Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc.,U.S., 1997

Synopsis

The investigation into how Kimberly Bengalis contracted AIDS gathered worldwide attention when she accused her dentist - Dr David Acre - of giving her the fatal disease. Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) concluded that Acer did indeed infect at least six of his patients, many challenged the accuracy of the investigation. In this examination of the situation, Mark Rom poses a number of unanswered questions that surround the case. Was the CDC's investigation accurate? Was their final analysis swayed by political pressure, influenced by public hysteria and hindered by bureacratic red tape? And, if Acer did infect his patients, why isn't the CDC doing anything about it?

About this title

About the Author

MARK CARL ROM is assistant professor of Government and Public Policy, Georgetown University and a Robert Wood Johnson Scholar of Health Policy and Research at the University of California, Berkeley. Rom also served as Project Manager of the U.S. General Accounting Office's inquiry into the CDC's handling of the Bergalis/Acer case.

From the Back Cover

Kimberly Bergalis is gone, but the provocative public health questions her case raised refuse to die.The New York Times called the Bergalis case ?one of the biggest mysteries in the annals of epidemiology.? In this compelling book Fatal Extraction, Mark Carl Rom unravels the mystery of the Florida coed who claimed her dentist gave her HIV and, in so doing, puts our public health system under the microscope.

From the Inside Flap

When the Florida coed Kimberly Bergalis claimed that her dentist, David Acer, had infected her with the HIV virus, it touched off a nationwide maelstrom of controversy, fear, and outrage. The case inspired a parade of congressional investigations, an explosion of media coverage, and a public outcry for improved health care safety measures.In Fatal Extraction, health care expert and former government investigator Mark Carl Rom presents an in-depth examination of the most compelling public health case since Typhoid Mary. The author takes readers step-by-step through the world of medical detective work, as the Centers for Disease Control must determine whether Dr. Acer indeed infected Kimberly Bergalis and other patients, and, if so, whether Acer's actions were accidents or acts of premeditated murder. In this absorbing book, Rom uses the details of the ?deadly dentist? case to raise myriad public health issues that are of concern us all:? How does the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) protect my health?? Do I have the right to know if my doctor or nurse is HIV positive?? Should my doctor inform me if she has a communicable life-threatening illness?? When does my doctor's right to privacy outweigh my right to know?? What can the government do to protect me better in the future?Fatal Extraction clearly shows how the Centers for Disease Control--and other government agencies--respond to the Bergalis case and similar incidents, examines why government officials act as they do, and questions what they can do differently. As the book unravels the mysteries surrounding Kimberly Bergalis's tragic infection, it informs readers of the actions we can expect (and should demand) our government to take to protect the health of patients, medical workers, and all citizens.

Edition details

• Publisher: Jossey-Bass Inc.,U.S.
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0787909912
• ISBN 13: 9780787909918
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 240