As far as I can tell, there’s not much to be known about Deotis McMather, even though his photo is one of the iconic images of the AIDS epidemic. I looked around the internet and could not find any other information on him.
For more than 40 years, the photo of McMather, asleep in a San Francisco hospital bed in 1983, accompanies stories about how the epidemic in the United States began and of the fear, cruelty and indifference about AIDS in those early years.
The original caption reads, “AIDS patient Deotis McMather, shown asleep in bed at San Francisco General’s AIDS ward. After being diagnosed with AIDS, he returned to his apartment where all of his belongings had been thrown out onto the street.”
It was a dark chapter in our nation’s history, with religious fundamentalists calling AIDS God’s judgment on gay people and our government turning its back on those with AIDS. AIDS killed, but so did ignorance, indifference and fear.
The isolation felt by those early AIDS patients was not entirely based on prejudice. The fear that you could get AIDS from someone through sweat, saliva, even touch, was real at a time when little was known about it.
Today, we are facing a serious challenge from fentanyl overdoses, who now account for 90% of drug overdoses in the U.S.
Sadly, we never seem to learn. Fentanyl, like AIDS, has become a political strategy, with conservatives linking the increase in fentanyl to illegal immigration. The facts dispute this, of course. More than 90% of fentanyl that comes into the U.S. arrives through legal ports of entry brought in by American citizens. It has little to do with immigration policy.
But why let the facts mess up a good story, right?
No one is more enthusiastic about spreading disinformation about fentanyl in Mississippi than our attorney general Lynn Fitch.
Tuesday, in an interview on the Ricky Mathews Show on SuperTalk Mississippi radio, Fitch promoted a reckless lie.
“We are working with our law enforcement because they are at such risk now,’’ she said. “You can no longer go in if someone is having an episode where they need Narcan (an over-the-counter drug that can reverse opioid overdose) and you can’t give them CPR because if they have fentanyl on them then it could be on the law enforcement officer.”
Dr. Michael Marlin, associate professor of emergency medicine at University of Mississippi Medical Center and medical director for the Mississippi Poison Control Center, said those claims are not only false, they are dangerous. There is no evidence that fentanyl can be transferred through CPR or coming in contact with it in any form, he said.
“The best way of saying it is that first responders should still administer (Narcan) and provide prompt and effective CPR,” Marlin told me Tuesday in a phone interview. “There is a much higher rate of survival if those measures are taken promptly and there is no risk to those who perform it. Professionals or even citizens who have CPR training should not hesitate to provide this care.”
Marlin said this isn’t the first time Fitch has said giving CPR to those who have used fentanyl is dangerous.
“I think this came from some reports of law enforcement officers becoming ill after treating fentanyl cases,” Marlin said. “I don’t doubt that they were feeling ill, but what they reported were feelings of anxiety and shortness of breath. Those are not symptoms of fentanyl. Most likely, they are psychosomatic reactions that have nothing to do with fentanyl. Again, there are no cases where what is being described has happened. None.”
Forty years ago, people were afraid of AIDS patients because they didn’t know better.
Today, where fentanyl is concerned, we do know better.
That’s not likely to deter Fitch, whose every move is saturated in politics, sometimes reckless and dangerous politics. She knows better, too. She just doesn’t care.
The truth is any first responder or law enforcement officer who refuses to provide CPR to an overdose victim is needlessly putting a life in danger.
If you know CPR, you should not hesitate to perform CPR if you find yourself in this situation.
Politics and Fitch be damned.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
