QUESTIONABLE DEATHS

QUESTIONABLE DEATHS DID THEY DIE OF AIDS?

Certain fatal diseases carry a social stigma that results from fear and ignorance. Tuberculosis had such a stigma until the 1920s when the musician Jimmie Rodgers went public in songs about his illness. Likewise, until such famous people as the actor John Wayne and President Ronald Reagan spoke openly of it, the word "cancer" was rarely heard in public. AIDS now carries a similar stigma, and when people die of it, their colleagues, associates, or family members may try to avoid saying the word, substituting "pneumonia❞ or "cancer." Often they wish to protect the deceased person's reputation from suggestions of drug abuse or homosexuality.

The death of the rock guitarist Ricky Wilson (see card 56) was originally attributed to cancer, but his band, the B-52's, now say he died of AIDS. Liberace (card 29) denied that he had AIDS, but an autopsy revealed it as the cause of his death. Although the fashion designer Perry Ellis (card 15), the philosopher Michel Foucault (card 17), and the real estate developer Steve Rubell (card 46) are reliably stated to have died of AIDS, this has not been verified by their families or doctors.

In the music world rumors persist that the Romantic pianist Jorge Bolet (1914-1990) died of AIDS, and that AIDS caused the death of the jazz trumpeter Miles Davis (1926-1991).

In 1992, the Utne Reader reported that Carl "Spitz'"' Channell, the gay Iran-Contra fundraiser convicted of defrauding the government, had died in 1990 of AIDS, not "pneumonia," but no proof was offered. Until the stigma is removed, estimates of AIDS fatalities will not be accurate, exacerbating funding deficits for research and services. Next Card 58: WHAT IS AIDS?: And What Causes It?

•