County Health Officials Try (and Fail) to Shut Down Porn Industry Health Clinic

Things have been heated between the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM) and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) since 24-year-old porn performer Derrick Burts tested positive for HIV in October. Among questions of whether monthly tests are sufficient to protect performers, AIM faces claims that it did not respond to the positive result in a timely fashion and that it denied Burts appropriate services.

County officials have issued a response to the matter in the form of a shut-down. Last week, the Department of Public Health issued a cease and desist order to the AIM health clinic in Sherman Oaks. The grounds for the order: the clinic’s application for a community clinic license has been denied due to an error.

“They hadn’t done all the things necessary to comply,” the county’s public health director, Jonathan Fielding told the Los Angeles Times.

The story is far more complex than it sounds. Since 1998, the non-profit AIM has been operating under an affiliated physician’s license instead of a clinic license. In May, state health officials told them to submit an application to get the correct license.

AIM Healthcare did. But they made a mistake. AIM’s lease is under “The Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation,” but they submitted their application for license under the name “AIM Medical Testing Center.” A grave error! (Anyone else feel we’ve fallen into Umberto Eco’s How To Travel With A Salmon? Just wondering.)

The application was sent back. The state’s Department of Public Health gave AIM 60 days beginning on November 30 to resubmit their application, then the county’s public health officials shut them down last week. Basically, the state gave AIM 60 days to resubmit, then ten days later, the county issued a cease and dessist order.

AVN is reporting that the action was “taken at the instigation of AIDS Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein.”

When AIM remained open (using other clinics as “draw stations”), Weinstein issued a press release through the AHF calling on county officials to shut them down: “No other businesses — restaurants with failing grades, for example — have the right or the chutzpah to defy County Health officials by remaining open and potentially endangering the public’s health. LA County officials should get out to Sherman Oaks and shut AIM down now!”

The danger being — just so we’re clear about this — AIM’s application error?

AIM is still operating. The circus is on-going. We’ll keep you posted.