AIDS babies
shouldn't get
top medicine,
doctors say
By LAURAN NEERGAARD
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. Hun
dreds of doctors say they would
recommend withholding expensive
medical care from babies born to
HIV-infected mothers even when
they didn't know if the baby actual
ly had the AIDS virus.
Most babies born to HIV-infect
ed mothers do not develop the
virus.
The findings, reported in yester
day's American Journal of Public
Health, are "shocking," said
Arthur Ammann of the Pediatric
AIDS Foundation.
New York researchers studied
951 neonatologists nationwide to
determine how they would treat
newborns who had such expensive
to-treat conditions as kidney or
heart disease in addition to being
born to HIV-infected mothers.
Some 700 neonatologists said
they would recommend withhold
ing certain aggressive treatments,
such as cardiac surgery or kidney
dialysis, from babies who definite
ly have HIV. An additional 400 said
knowing the mother was infected
would alter their treatment deci
sions even if the baby's own HIV
tests weren't complete.
The doctors were surveyed in
1991, and there is no way to know
whether their opinions have
changed, acknowledged the study's
author, Betty Wolder Levin of the
City University of New York.
But some AIDS activists said
doctors may be more reluctant to
offer expensive therapy to infected
babies today because of growing
pressure to cut health costs. Ninety
percent of HIV-infected children
get their health care from Medic
aid.
"A lot of these children live well
into their teens" with proper care,
said Troy Petinbrink of the Nation
al Association of People With
AIDS. "That study could turn out to
be even more (worrisome) now."
Added Ammann: "It really tells
us we've got to get the message out
that there is treatment for HIV."
About 25 percent of mothers
with the HIV virus infect their
babies, and women can cut the risk
by two-thirds by taking the drug
AZT during pregnancy. Doctors
often don't know for several weeks
which infants are infected, because
babies are born with their mothers'
immune cells.
Newt Gingrich:
Reform findings
too late for '96
By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON, D.C. House
Speaker Newt Gingrich pitched his
plan yesterday for a commission on
political reform, but said its find
ings would come too late to affect
the 1996 election.
"Nothing is going to be done
before the next election and every
body knows that," the Georgia
Republican said on NBC's "Meet
the Press." "Nothing will apply to
the 1996 election."
Gingrich brushed aside criti
cisms, from both parties, that the
GOP leadership has cooled on cam
paign and lobbying reform since
Republicans gained control of Con
gress and began seeing big gains in
contributions.
"The issue is much bigger than
they think it is," Gingrich said.
"We want to look at the totality of
power in America, not just a very
narrow definition of campaigns."
At the urging of Republican
freshmen, the House will take up a
bill Thursday on restricting free
meals, trips and other gifts mem
bers can accept from lobbyists.
Gingrich showed little enthusi
asm for limitations, saying that if
Congress is going to go that route,
an outright ban on gifts would be
better. "I would have an automatic
thing that says, 'don't bring T
shirts, don't bring caps."'
On campaign reform, he promot
ed his idea, first proposed a week
ago, of appointing a bipartisan
commission, with eight members
from each side, to "look at the
totality of politics."
Under his proposal, the House
and Senate would automatically
have to take up any idea that is
endorsed by three-fourths of the
commission members, and review
any idea that gets majority sup
port.
He said the commission would
report to Congress by May 1, and
legislation could probably be pre
sented on the House floor by next
summer.
President Clinton and Gingrich
agreed to set up such a commis
sion during a joint appearance in
New Hampshire last June, but the
idea has made little headway since
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