WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- A friend of Dr. David Acer, a dentist who died of AIDS, says Acer may have intentionally infected Kimberly Bergalis and at least one other of his patients with the AIDS virus.
Edward Parsons, 35, an unemployed nurse from Miami Beach, told the Palm Beach Post in an interview published Wednesday that Acer may have chosen Kimberly Bergalis and Barbara Webb to make a point.
Parsons told the newspaper he based his conclusion on 1988 conversations he and Acer had about AIDS and how they thought mainstream America was ignoring the problem.
'Acer said, 'When it starts affecting grandmothers and younger people, then you'll see something done,'' Parsons said.
Acer, diagnosed with AIDS in September 1987, died in 1990 at the age of 40.
Parsons, who is homosexual, said he contracted the AIDS virus from a 1989 medical incident in which he accidentally pricked his finger with a contaminated needle.
Five of Acer's patients were infected with the AIDS virus. Federal health officials said earlier this year that, of 15,000 cases studied nationwide, they are the only known cases of transmission of AIDS from a health-care provider to patients.
Bergalis, 23, died of AIDS Dec. 8, 1991, at her home in Fort Pierce. Exactly how she, Webb and three other patients contracted the AIDS virus from Acer remains a medical mystery despite extensive investigations since 1990.
'In a weird way, it makes some kind of sense,' said Webb, a retired Martin County teacher. 'If indeed he did choose, he chose rather well. Who better than Kim to wrap the whole country up? Who more than Barbara Webb, an English teacher who doesn't mind speaking out?'
