Transcript
Apple Representative (0:00)
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Dan Kennedy (0:30)
As we approach the end of the year. I'm thinking about the next Next year is the year I finally make my Spanish better than my 9 year olds. Rosetta Stone is the most trusted language learning program available on desktop or as an app, and it truly immerses you in the language that you want to learn. I can't wait to use Rosetta Stone and finally speak better than my 9 year old who's been learning Spanish in his own way. Rosetta Stone is the trusted expert for 30 years with millions of users and 25 languages offered. Spanish, French, Italian, German, Korean. I could go on fast language acquisition. Rosetta Stone immerses you in many ways. There are no English translations, so you can really learn to speak, listen and think in that language. Start the new year off with a resolution you can reach today. The Moth listeners can take advantage of this Rosetta Stones lifetime membership for 50% off visit rosettastone.com moth that's 50% off. Unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your 50% off@RosettaStone.com moth today.
Dan Kennedy (1:39)
This is the Moth Podcast. I'm Dan Kennedy. Many of you know that 2018 is the year Nelson Mandela would have turned 100 and this episode of the Moth podcast is dedicated to the values he fought for promoting equity, community service, education for all, and the ongoing fight to end HIV aids. Moth shows feature stories from everyone, including people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately, it's a disease that has killed 35 million people, but this disease is preventable and treatable. On this week's episode, we're teaming up with Red, the organization with the goal of a world where no baby is born with hiv. Our first story comes to us from one of our open mic story slams in Washington, D.C. where the theme of the night was betrayal. Here's Jamie Brickhouse live at the Mall.
Jamie Brickhouse (2:37)
I hate confrontation. Example I am at my first appointment with a new dentist. My old dentist stopped taking my insurance, so my common law husband Michael said, why don't you just go to my guy? He takes Our insurance, and I've been going to him for years. So I'm sitting in the examination chair, and Lisa, let's call her that, the hygienist has her back to me, and she's slipping through my paperwork, my medical intake forms, and then she freezes. And I see her back stiffen. And then she says, not looking at me, you're HIV positive. And she says it in the way that you might ask, you're a convicted felon. And the comedian in me wants to say, no, I'm just kidding. I joke about that all the time. And what I really want to say is, yeah, you got a problem with that, lady? But I don't say either of those things. I just let the silence linger between us for a while, and then I just say simply, yes, turn the other cheek. After a beat, she says, oh. And then she puts on her latex gloves and she performs the cleaning. So that evening, Michael says, so, how did it go with the dentist? And I said, well, Dr. Flowers, the dentist was a nice old guy. I said, but this weird thing happened with Lisa. And I told him what happened, and he, of course, agreed that it was icky, but we were like, well, you know, what can you do? And then we just went on and didn't think about it. And, oh, three months later, Michael was having his teeth cleaned. And as soon as he was in the examination chair, Lisa said, so I met your partner or husband. Which is it? And he said, jamie, yeah. And he tells me that he's HIV positive. Are you? And Michael hates confrontation almost as much as I do. And he just answers, and he says, no, I'm not. And she says, well, I see that your medical forms haven't been filled out for five years, so we need to get an update on you. And she shoves some blank forms under his nose. And she says, and have you had hepatitis C? Because that could be worse than hiv. I just ask these questions because I need to protect myself. And then she puts on a second pair of latex gloves, a surgical mask over her mouth, and then one of those like, Beekeeper helmets over her head. I'm not kidding. And in this outfit, she performs the cleaning on him, pulling down her sleeve so that no skin is exposed. Michael texts me afterwards and says, we need to find a new dentist. And I called him immediately, and he told me what happened. And he said, I've never been so angry and humiliated in all my life. And that's exactly how I felt when I was in that examination chair. Oh, and by the way, this didn't happen in a small provincial town. It happened on the Upper east side on Park Avenue in New York City. And it didn't happen in 1987 or 1997 or 2007. It happened in 2017. Now, I've been HIV positive since 2002, and for 10 years, I was in the closet about it. It took me a while to get over my own shame and stigma. And then I told family and friends and no one cared. Until Lisa. And at first, Michael and I didn't think there was anything we could do other than stop going to that dentist. But then we started talking to people and we realized that by betraying my patient confidence, Lisa had broken the law. Because there's a little thing called hipaa, Health Insurance Portability act, which means you can't reveal a patient's information to another person. Doesn't matter that it was Michael, my husband or partner or whichever he is. And in New York State, she was the double whammy, because there's a thing called Article 27F, which deals specifically with HIV disclosure. This time I didn't turn the other cheek. I filed complaints with the Health and Human Services Department, the New York State Health Department, the New York City Commission on Human Rights, and it took a few months of tedious back and forth, but I got action. Dr. Flowers admitted that there had been a breach and. And Lisa no longer works there. What did her in, of course, was revealing my HIV status to Michael. But the way I see it, what did her in was her fear and her prejudice and the way she treated two other people. And quite frankly, I hope she never gets a job in the health industry with her. The way she feels about disease, I mean, she needs to go work somewhere like Purell. Thank you.