^bc-elect-death-comment adv10 a1831<

^(bal) (ATTN: Editorial Page editors)<

^Adv sun nov 10<

^Physician-Assisted Suicide: An Issue That Won't Die<

^Engram, deputy editor of the editorial pages of The Baltimore<

^Evening Sun, writes ``Mortal Matters,'' a column about death<

^and dying.<

^By Sara Engram=

^Special to The Baltimore Sun=

Washington state voters had a chance to step into uncharted legal and

ethical territory last Tuesday. They declined the opportunity.

Despite polls showing that almost two-thirds of Americans favor allowing

physicians to assist in the suicide of a terminally ill patient, voters in

Washington state defeated an aid-in-dying initiative by a margin of 54 percent

to 46 percent.

While not a landslide, those numbers represent a clear defeat. But in

listening to supporters of this and similar measures, you might think it was a

resounding victory:

``We think we advanced the issue by miles,'' says Kirk Robinson, president

of Washington Citizens for Death with Dignity. ``They (the initiative's

opponents) could hold us back this time, but they can't hold this issue back,

because people want this choice. They fundamentally want it.''

``It's a small setback, but by no means will it kill the right-to-die issue.

It's gotten too big,'' says Kris Larson, editor of the Hemlock Quarterly ,

published by the Hemlock Society, which advocates legalizing physician-assisted

suicide for terminally ill people.

As the dust settles after Washington's hard-fought, even bitter campaign, it

seems clear that however you describe the issue _ aid-in-dying,

physician-assisted suicide, mercy killing, death with dignity, legalized

euthanasia _ it is one that is likely to be with us for years to come.

Already, Californians are gathering signatures to place a similar measure on

next year's ballot. Citizens in Oregon and Florida have set up exploratory

efforts for 1994.

Jack Nicholl, a veteran of California's public interest politics who is now

campaign director for Californians Against Human Suffering, sees the 46 percent

support for the Washington proposal as an impressive showing that bodes well

for future efforts _ especially given the complicated political terrain in

which this initiative was fought.

``When I saw that tax reform, term limits and abortion were all on the

ballot, I got worried,'' he says. ``It's hard to get a clear vote with so many

other issues to draw out potential opponents.''

In Nicholl's view, events elsewhere in the nation also played a part _

particularly the news in late October, during the height of the campaign, that

retired pathologist Jack ``Dr. Death'' Kevorkian had helped two more women to

die in a Michigan park.

Those women would not have qualified for aid-in-dying under either the

Washington or California proposals, since they were not terminally ill. Their

conditions were chronic, but would not cause death within six months.

Moreover, the measures require that one of the two doctors who certify that

a patient is terminally ill and mentally competent must be a treating

physician. In other words, the doctor must be one who has an established

relationship with the patient, rather than someone who, like Kevorkian,

advertises his eagerness to help people die.

Nicholl and many other supporters of the Washington initiative believe that

Kevorkian gave opponents a chance to focus on lurking fears that giving

physicians this license for the first time in the history of Western

civilization (with the egregious exception of Nazi Germany) would open the way

for zealots such as Kevorkian to abuse the law.

As one supporter said, Kevorkian put a human face on people's fears.

Safeguards became a major issue in Washington, with opponents claiming that

the process could be easily abused and supporters countering with allegations

that ads warning of abuses were blatant falsehoods. As a result, future

initiatives may spell out in more detail the process that must be followed by

both physicians and patients.

But many supporters of aid-in-dying point out that adding more safeguards

will not satisfy anyone. ``The additional safeguards issue was a red herring,''

Robinson says. ``You could give them a telephone book of safeguards and they

wouldn't support it.''

Like abortion, this is an issue on which many people already have clear

opinions. Supporters of the concept are convinced that, while side issues may

confuse enough voters to sway election results a few percentage points, the

tide of public opinion is clearly moving in their favor.

Although many physicians support these initiatives, the medical

establishment worked vigorously against the Washington initiative, and will

undoubtedly oppose similar efforts in other states.

Yet the aid-in-dying movement is, in a way, the medical equivalent of term

limits. Just as millions of voters across the country express disgust with

politics, they also, in many cases, continue to register confidence in their

own elected representatives.

Likewise, Americans are fed up with a health care system that too often

seems arbitrary, impersonal and even cruel. Yet, ironically, the aid-in-dying

proposals are based on people's willingness to place ultimate trust in a

physician _ trust strong enough to hand over the power to end one's life.

The prospect of holding that awesome power rightfully makes many doctors

uncomfortable. But, many Americans ask, is that really more terrifying than

what happens in hospitals every day _ families watching a loved one hooked up

to machinery that cannot defeat death, but can certainly prolong the process?

The notion of traditional deathbed scenes, with family and friends gathered

around, has been replaced in the popular imagination with the nightmare of

dying alone and possibly in pain, hooked to machines and surrounded by hospital

personnel more concerned with avoiding legal liability than with meeting any

moral responsibility to make the time of death as humane and comforting as

possible.

John Golenski, a Catholic theologian and ethicist, notes that when they

think about death, Americans are afraid of pain, of bankrupting their heirs, of

losing their dignity, of being isolated from their family and friends.

``Most Americans are right to fear those things because most Americans do

die in horrific conditions,'' he says.

In the end, the fate of aid-in-dying proposals may well depend on how

quickly the health care system can come to terms with legitimate fears of the

new American way of death.

^Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service

^End adv sun nov 10<

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1740 tm--au a bc-magic-times - a1823 11-08 1221

^bc-magic-times - a1823<

^ATTN: News editors) (Includes optional trims)<

^Johnson HIV Disclosure Creates Long-Sought Awareness (Los Angeles)<

^By Bob Baker and Janny Scott=

^ 1991, Los Angeles Times=

LOS ANGELES _ Magic Johnson's infection with the AIDS virus continued to

dominate casual chatter and policymakers' pronouncements around the nation

Friday, creating the kind of widespread public awareness of the disease that

health experts had struggled to kindle without success.

Centers for AIDS testing and information reported they were flooded with

calls after Johnson's astonishing but frank announcement Thursday. In Portland,

Ore., Fred Allemann, an HIV outreach specialist with the Cascade AIDS Project,

said Johnson ``probably saved thousands of lives just in that one act.''

In Rome, President Bush called Johnson a ``hero'' who ``has handled his

problem in a wonderful way.''

At Los Angeles City Hall, the steps where Johnson celebrated five NBA titles

at spirited rallies were renamed in his honor. Newspapers from Madrid to Tokyo

hailed Johnson for disclosing his infection. ``His words have made tears fall

around the world,'' Portuguese television said. ``He is a genuine idol,'' said

the German news agency SID.

Child psychiatrists warned that Johnson's millions of young fans, lacking

the adult capacity to distance themselves, should be given wide latitude to

grieve. ``Parents shouldn't ... say, `Don't be upset, you don't really know

him,' '' said Dr. Anthony Rostain, a psychiatrist at the Philadelphia Child

Guidance Center.

What was being felt, Texas newspaper columnist Jim Reeves wrote Friday, are

the walls of AIDS closing in around society.

``AIDS came home to our neighborhood,'' he wrote. ``Mine and yours. It

pulled up a chair, sat down in our midst and began shaking hands, as if it

belonged there, as if it wasn't wearing the dark hood and death mask of the

grim reaper. As if _ and this is the scary part _ it was an old friend, come to

pay its respects.''

A day after Johnson's announcement Thursday at the Forum in nearby

Inglewood, where he played 12 years for the Los Angeles Lakers, the question of

how Johnson became infected seemed to be high in the public's mind.

The Lakers' team physician, Dr. Michael Mellman, said in a statement Friday

that he believes Johnson ``contracted the HIV virus from heterosexual contact

... Since he is neither homosexual nor an (intravenous) drug user and has not

received a (blood) transfusion in the past, there is no data to suggest any

other avenue of attaining the virus.''

The health status of Johnson's wife Cookie, seven weeks pregnant, was

uncertain Friday. Laker spokesmen said that Johnson's wife had tested negative

for the virus. But AIDS specialists noted Friday that the virus can elude

notice by AIDS testing for up to six months after infection.

``She's not out of the woods,'' said Dr. Mark Smith, a longstanding AIDS

clinician. ``Most people will say if she's negative at six months the chances

are extremely slim that she'll ever be positive. But certainly seven weeks is

not long enough to be at all certain.''

About one-third of all babies born to infected mothers end up infected

themselves.

Long-time AIDS specialists and veterans of the political wars over AIDS

policy were invigorated by the public response to Johnson's announcement _

though somewhat dismayed that many of the questions pouring in to hotlines

seemed remarkably unsophisticated.

``We had thought that we had been giving out this information for years,''

said Dr. Reed Tuckson, the former health commissioner for the District of

Columbia who is now president of Drew University of Medicine and Science in Los

Angeles.

^(Optional add end)<

The challenge now facing advocacy and support groups, Tuckson said, is to

capitalize on the emotion and energy unleashed _ ``to nurture it and sustain it

and direct it for the long haul'' into legislative action, increased funding

and a coordinated volunteer effort.

Dr. Mervyn Silverman, president of American Foundation for AIDS Research,

said he hoped the public interest ``would somehow jump-start the Bush

administration,'' particularly in the areas of AIDS education and prevention.

``But the greatest impact is going to be the impact on the young, to

re-evaluate their sense of invincibility,'' he said. ``The youth of America is

the most vulnerable and they're the hardest to reach. This courageous move by

Magic may very well have the effect of doing what we couldn't do in any other

way.''

California Gov. Pete Wilson made the same point in a speech to a

manufacturers association in Los Angeles, urging broadcast stations to offer

Johnson public service time.

``I think frankly that a few words from him would mean more than an

educational campaign from a number of other people,'' Wilson said. ``A lot of

kids ... seem to think that they and Magic are ... somehow beyond the reach of

this virus.''

Tuckson said the apparent candor and unflappable grace of Johnson's

disclosure may go a long way to dispel the shame, stigma and discrimination

long associated with AIDS, and may also serve to make the nation less sanguine

about the virus believed to infect more than 1 million Americans.

``There's no question that for a brief period there will be a more

heightened concern by individuals about their own status,'' said Dr. Mark

Smith, an AIDS clinician. ``How much we can affect behavior change over the

long run remains to be seen.''

Smith, a vice president of the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation, suggested Johnson

was the first black public figure to stake an affirmative claim to the AIDS

issue, in the way that many within the gay community have long defined the

cause as theirs.

``My sense is that the black community really has yet to do that in the same

way,'' said Smith, who is black. ``There are individuals who have come forward.

But I am not sure that black people have `owned' this epidemic in the way that

may now be possible.''

Smith said the impact of Johnson's announcement will be far greater than the

news of the late film star Rock Hudson's diagnosis. Many young Americans

``don't know from Rock Hudson,'' Smith said, and the country is likely to

eventually witness the slow deterioration of Johnson's health.

``People didn't have a chance to grieve with Rock Hudson and understand the

process of his getting sick,'' said Smith. ``People are going to see Magic

Johnson as he struggles with his illness. Odds are ... that will be, in some

ways, a much more painful process for people.''

In San Francisco Friday, Gerald Lenoir, executive director of the San

Francisco Black Coalition on AIDS, said his education and referral organization

had already begun getting more calls from people wanting information on testing

and treatment.

``Magic has saved thousands of lives and maybe even millions of lives,'' he

said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, who made the proposal naming the

area surrounding the First Street steps of City Hall the ``Magic Johnson Plaza

of Champions,'' said Johnson's honesty and his courage were going to be the

shot heard around he world in the battle against AIDS.

``He has made it abundantly clear that AIDS affects all of us in every walk

of life _ nobody is immune, nobody is to blame, it's everybody's problem,''

Wachs said.

LAT-WP 11-08 2129EST<

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^bc-magic-ads-post<

^(wap) (ATTN: Financial, Feature editors)<

^Will HIV Virus Sideline Johnson as Spokesman?<

^By Steven Pearlstein=

^ 1991, The Washington Post=

WASHINGTON _ Now that Earvin ``Magic'' Johnson has become the nation's most

prominent spokesman on the subject of the AIDS epidemic, will companies

continue to pay him about $5 million a year or more to help sell their cola,

sneakers, video games and other products?

Sports agents and advertising executives were divided on the question Friday.

Marty Blackman, a New York consultant who advises advertising agencies and

corporations on the use of celebrity sports figures, said he would counsel

against using any ads featuring Johnson for the next few months until the

public sorts outs its reactions to the news that he had contracted the human

immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that causes AIDS.

``If you're job is to sell toothpaste, the images you want are bright,

smiles, love, happy _ upbeat types of thing,'' said Blackman. ``Well, Magic

Johnson is, tragically, afflicted by a disease that is not upbeat, and for a

marketer, that's a big hurdle.''

But a number of ad people said Friday that for companies willing to take

some chances with their advertising, the potential of Johnson's magic may be

more powerful following his remarkable announcement in Los Angeles on Thursday.

``I wouldn't hesitate to shoot a new commercial with Magic Johnson and run

it tomorrow,'' said Mark Goldstein, president of Bethesda, Md. -based Earle

Palmer Brown Associates Inc. ``My instinct is that people's hearts will go out

to him even more because nobody wants to see this man die.''

Goldstein wondered what would have happened, for example, if actor Michael

Landon had continued to do commercials for Eastman Kodak Co. during the time of

his very public struggle against cancer.

``If the message of that ad was that memories were real important and one

way to hold on to them was with picture, imagine the power that message would

have had,'' Goldstein said.

``I'd love to use him,'' Mike Hughes, vice chairman of the Martin Agency in

Richmond, said of Johnson. ``For progressive companies looking for a spokesman,

he will be ideal.''

Fred Fried, vice president for ProServ Inc., the sports marketing agency in

Arlington, Va., said that Johnson's value to a corporation extends beyond

on-air appearances to community-oriented programs, motivation sessions for

employees and image polishes in the world at large. ``I'd be very surprised if

Magic Johnson's current corporate partners did anything but support him.''

Those corporate partners _ which include the makers of Nintendo game

systems, Spaulding basketballs, CBS Fox videos, Converse sneakers, Kenner toys

and the National Basketball Association _ Friday were voicing universal

admiration for him and concern for his well-being, but were largely

noncommittal on what role he would play in their future marketing efforts.

``We haven't begun to discuss that,'' said Steven Provost, public affairs

director for Kentucky Fried Chicken in Louisville.

At Pepsi Cola Co. in Purchase, N.Y., which reportedly is paying Johnson $4.2

million over three years, spokeswoman Becky Madiera said that it is ``still too

early to predict what our next steps will be _ or what the right steps are.

``Our original endorsement deal centered on Magic Johnson the basketball

player,'' Madiera said. ``Now we need to understand what Magic's plans are and

answer the question: Do you use public issues in promoting soft drinks?''

As one possibility, Madiera said she could imagine public service ads by

Johnson sponsored by the company.

Friday, at the Washington, D.C.-area Pepsi franchise, where Johnson is not

only top promoter but one-third owner, there was no sign that Johnson had lost

any of his magic hold on the public imagination. Half a dozen television crews

were led through the company's lobby _ dominated by a life-sized poster of

Johnson _ to his office, where there are autographed basketballs earmarked for

sick children in the area.

Chairman Earl Graves said he expects Johnson now to have more time to spend

boosting sales at the $50 million-a-year business in which Johnson reportedly

invested $20 million.

On Thursday, Johnson promised a full court-press on AIDS issues, and even

advertising executives who are most enthusiastic about his on-air prospects

said that could scare away a large number of corporations.

Friday, for example, the regional marketing manager of Kentucky Fried

Chicken declined a request for a copy of the restaurant's logo for use with

this article. ``I don't think that article is something a food company wants to

be associated with,'' explained an account manager with KFC's Baltimore

advertising agency.

LAT-WP 11-08 2126EST<

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^Schools Abuzz With Discussions on Johnson, AIDS (Inglewood)<

^By Marc Lacey and Hugo Martin=

^1991, Los Angeles Times=

INGLEWOOD, Calif. _ Less than a mile from the Los Angeles Lakers' home court

at the Forum, Inglewood High School teacher Eleanor Owen took time out from her

lesson on ``Wuthering Heights'' Friday morning to discuss a drama that hit

closer to home.

``What I want to talk about now hasn't been written in literature yet,'' she

told the classroom of seniors. ``There isn't a novel that we know of yet _ but

someday you'll read about it.''

She then raised the topic of Earvin ``Magic'' Johnson and let the class take

it from there.

``It made me cry a little _ just a little,'' said Carlos Delgado, referring

to the moment he heard reports Thursday that the Lakers' star player had tested

positive for the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. ``It's sad. He

fought all the way to get where he is and now he has to fight for his life. You

have to be a real man to say in front of everybody, `I have the HIV virus.'''

A student in Owen's class, Andrea Myers, said, ``It could be five people

sitting in this class. All of you better start thinking. There is a clinic

across the street that gives away condoms and some of you ought to get over

there real soon.''

Similar discussions and lectures took place in classrooms, school hallways

and playgrounds throughout the area Friday as youngsters came to grips with the

news that the virus associated with AIDS has sticken a basketball legend and

schoolyard hero.

The somber talks _ sometimes among youngsters too young to drive but old

enough to know the basic facts about the deadly disease _ often turned to

mortality, condoms and sexual responsibility.

Many students said that they did not believe the news when they first heard

it. Many said that the news would change their everyday lives. And all of them

said that they now understood that if the disease could strike a near mythic

figure like Johnson, it could strike anyone.

``I think this is going to be a landmark in AIDS,'' said Sam Miller, 11, a

student at Carpenter Elementary School in the Los Angeles community of Studio

City. ``Nobody ever thinks it can happen to them, but if it could happen to

someone who is as well-loved as Magic Johnson it could happen to anyone. I

don't think the government can ignore this any longer.''

^(Optional add end)

Miller was among many students and teachers Friday who said that Johnson was

on their minds all day Friday. They talked about his career, his game-winning

shots, his smile, his charisma and their love for him. But they also talked

about AIDS, death and their hope for a miracle.

``We had a current event (assignment) to do for homework last night and

almost everybody did it about Magic,'' said sixth-grader Jesus Carreon. ``I

feel sorry about him. He was a great player. I'm still his fan, even though he

doesn't play.''

``I felt like crying,'' said his friend, Manuel Roque. ``A lot of people

were crying ... I read a book about him and how he became famous.''

At Suzanne Middle School in Walnut, Calif., Johnson's announcement changed

perceptions of the disease among some eighth-graders.

``You thought gays just had it,'' said Anh Le, 13.

``More people are getting scared,'' said Christina Tafesh, 13. ``You never

thought it would happen to one of the Lakers.''

LAT-WP 11-08 2122EST<