Brothels safer than Health Clinics

I truly am sorry and this is not normally a cause PRO Nevada supports but ... brothels are ONLY IN rural Nevada, so ...

I just really got a kick out of this letter to the Editors of the LVRJ:

Mar. 26, 2008 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
LETTERS: Brothels safer than health clinics
To the editor:

Last week the ABC News show "20/20" addressed the topic of prostitution in America, specifically in Nevada. Diane Sawyer of "20/20" observed that the health department stated that in more than 30 years, it has not had one case of HIV among the women working in the more than 30 legal brothels in Nevada. Ms. Sawyer also stated that each of the women is tested every week for sexually transmitted diseases, and for HIV every month.

Compare the track record of the legal brothels in Nevada, when it comes to disease transmitted, to the Endoscopy Center of Southern Nevada, where at least six patients were infected with hepatitis C. Who would have thought that a patron of a legal brothel would be at less risk of catching a disease than a patient at a medical clinic? Both places operate under a profit motive, yet it appears from news reports that one engaged in practices that put its clients/patients health, and very lives, at risk in order to maximize its profits.

It is also interesting to note that the state appears to do a thorough job of ensuring the clients of brothels and the women employed there are protected from being infected, yet for whatever reason can't seem to do the same thorough job when it comes to health care clinics.

There is no justifiable reason for the state health department not doing their job, despite all the excuses we have been hearing about a lack of funding and staff, lack of support from the governor for staffing positions, inability to hire staff, etc. This issue of the health, safety and welfare of the citizens of Nevada is far too important to ever be ignored or rationalized away. If you don't believe that, just consider the plight of the 40,000-plus people now living in a medical purgatory as they await the outcome of their medical tests -- or their future as they struggle with a deadly disease.

And finally, like thousands or hundreds of thousands of other citizens, I keep watching the local evening news, waiting to see some health care providers in Las Vegas do the "perp walk" in handcuffs.

Tom Lynch
NORTH LAS VEGAS

All PRO Nevada can say is "Amen"