All language subtitles for 5B.2018.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG

[indistinct chatter]

[door creaks]

[door clicks]

[door creaking]

[tranquil music]

[tranquil music continues]

["Dreaming" by Blondie playing]

♪ When I met you
In the restaurant ♪

♪ You could tell
I was no debutante ♪

♪ You asked me...

[man 1] Over the past year,

homosexuals have been coming out
into public.

Uh, refusing to hide
in the closet, simply said.

♪ And tell you of my dreamin'

♪ Dreamin' is free

♪ Dreamin'

Very, very new scene.

Certainly new to me,
and quite, quite fascinating.

♪ Beat feet walking a two-mile

♪ Meet me

♪ Meet me at the turnstile

♪ I never met him

It's not 1954 anymore,
it's 1973, and...

And boys go to bed with boys,
and girls go to bed with girls,

and, uh, some people
go to bed with both.

♪ Filling up an idle hour

♪ Fade away

[Harry] The '70s were about
that attempt that we made

to carve out a place
for ourselves in society

that had never been done before.

Just the simple thing

of being able
to walk hand in hand

down the street.

People kind of go like,
"Yeah, big deal."

It is a big deal

because I've had beer bottles
thrown at me

because of doing that.

[man 2] The biggest thing
that's been accomplished

is for a substantial number
of people

to identify themselves
as full-fledged and...

worthwhile human beings.

[man 3] This is our day.

This is our day.

We are growing in power
with every day that passes.

And we will not be stopped!

♪ Dreamin'

[Cliff] It was wide open.

I mean, there were a lot
of people my age here.

[Cliff] The party scene
was wild.

[inaudible]

1981 was when things
really began to change.

Scientists at
the National Centers

for Disease Control
in Atlanta, today,

released the results of a study,

which shows that the lifestyle
of some male homosexuals

has triggered an epidemic
of a rare form of cancer.

I fit the profile

kind of a typical
Kaposi's patient in my age...

and that I'm gay, and...

But I don't know how I got it.

[Cliff] I was
at San Francisco General.

I was a clinical
nurse specialist.

[Cliff] And I saw some
of the first young men

who died of cancer.

No one had ever quite dealt
with something like this.

[David]
At the time I was working

in an intensive care unit,

and we had patients that
came through with this illness.

And then, my landlord
started getting sick.

Um, and within a month or two,

um, boom, he was gone.

[David]Everybody was whispering
that he had this gay cancer.

My boyfriend said,

"I don't want
to get this gay cancer."

And then I started to see
my friends getting sick.

[tense music]

Weeks later, they were down
to skin and bones.

[Harry] We were just
shriveling up and dying.

Our immune systems were going,

we were catching diseases
nobody had ever heard of.

[Harry] I remember
that one camping trip

because there was this
very handsome blonde boy

that I was attracted to...

walking across these rocks...

looking like a leopard.

[Harry] Within a few months,
he was dead.

I started working per diem
at the General.

[Alison] I saw these young,
gay men

placed in the isolation rooms
at the ends of the hallways.

-[EKG beeping]
-[machine whirring]

[Cliff] No one knew
how you were going to get it.

[Paul] Could this be a disease
spread through the air?

[ominous music]

Doctors could only treat
the symptoms,

never the underlying cause.

[Lorraine] At the beginning,
it was only gay men.

Only later did drug addicts,
uh, have it.

And even in nursing,
I mean, it was dirty nursing.

and people didn't want
to get involved with it.

And we all knew at that time
it was a 100% fatal.

[Alison] We were
expected to wear,

what we called "spacesuits."

[tense music]

Yesterday, I had an X-ray done,

and the girl spent 20 minutes

gowning up,
gloving up, masking up.

We were afraid of them.

[David] Everybody was.

[Alison] Breakfast trays
would pile up

because even the auxiliary staff

didn't want to go in.

[Cliff] I saw patients alone

begging for someone
to come assist them.

[David] And if they soiled
their bed,

people were gonna wait
until the last minute they could

to change it, and...

out and out refuse
to take care of people.

[machine whirring]

I would not want to operate
on that patient, no.

[interviewer 1]
Have you had occasion

to turn down such an operation?

Yes, I have.

The person said outright,
"I'm not touching him."

[Alison] How could you
not provide the care

that you know how to do?

In hospitals right now,

persons with AIDS
feel particularly alienated

and particularly isolated.

It made me angry.

[Cliff] And the
director of nursing

at San Francisco General
came and sat down.

And she was like,
"We have to do something."

And I said,

"Okay, I'll do it."

[reporter 1] At San Francisco
General Hospital,

the staff is gearing up

for the opening
of a special wing

to treat AIDS victims.

[Cliff] People were like,

"Well, you're probably
going to get AIDS

and you're probably
going to die."

Yeah, I might have
some anxiety about this,

but I'm more pissed off
and angry than I am scared.

[upbeat music]

[Alison] I see signs up

about this new unit.

I was instantly
really interested.

There's an enemy.

And it's, it's a disease.

I'd heard about this
dedicated AIDS unit.

[Magee] I came from New York,

and I had this hope that
I could get a job on this unit.

I had seen the patients
being marginalized.

And I just

found it infuriating.

[Magee] And then I got called
for an interview.

♪ Don't sit around

♪ You've got to wake up
And live ♪

♪ Don't piss around

♪ You've got to wake up
And live ♪

[Magee] One of the staff said,

"What is your zodiac sign?"

And I just said, "Uh, Cancer."

And she said, "Well, good,

because there's
too many Leos on nights."

[Hank] It was built by
the nurses there.

And they physically built
that ward.

♪ Go!

[Alison] We were making it.

We were creating it.

[reporter 2] The nurses
all volunteered for this duty.

If I had said no to any of them,

they might have done
physical harm to me.

[Alison] Cliff had a vision.

We were gay, we were straight,
we were young, we were old.

And they were all
kind of kick-ass,

even the straight ones.

[applause]

[Alison] And he said...

"Go home and talk to your
significant others,

because we don't know.

We can't tell you

you're not going to
get this disease."

I was ready, but I was scared.

My wife and I really
couldn't talk about it.

Couldn't talk about our fear.

[Paul] It was just
so much there...

but I distinctly, uh, remember

having recurrent nightmares...

that I had given it to my kids.

[reporter 3] This ward
will be empty tonight,

the last time for a long while.

Tomorrow, AIDS patients
will be moving in

and a unique experiment
in medical care begins.

And then, they started coming.

[grunts]

[groans]

[machine beeping]

[Alison] One after the other...

in pain or struggling
for breath...

with an array of
immune deficiency that was...

mind-boggling.

[Alison] Some people
could be treated,

at least for a while,

and they were discharged.

Then, they came back
unrecognizable,

either in appearance,
or demeanor, or both.

From one week to the next,
you could see the difference.

And the amount of time
between diagnosis and...

terminal velocity,
or whatever you want to say,

was usually
less than four months.

I mean, medically...

[scoffs]
This is a horror story.

And no one seems
to realize it yet.

[tense music]

[knocks on door]

[Paul] I remember seeing
one patient for the first time.

Before I even examined him,

I diagnosed three, simultaneous,

opportunistic problems
that he had.

Did you have...

Have you noticed any change
with the Kaposi's

since you've been admitted
with Pneumocystis pneumonia?

Uh, not really.

There's...
I have so many lesions,

-it's rather difficult to...
-[Paul] Mm-hmm.

[Paul] Every patient said,
"I'm gonna beat this."

No one beats this.

No one beats this.

I can't, you know,

imagine what it must feel like

to not feel like
you can breathe.

[somber music]

[machine beeps]

[Magee] It was a very,
very unpleasant death.

[machine beeps]

[David] Thanks, we've been
meaning to change

the bed mattress
and cushion, up in there.

[Magee] One of the first things
David Denmark said to me was,

"You have to get out of the mode

that you're here
for curing people,

and really get into the mode

that you're here
to care for people."

[machine beeping]

[Diane] This patient
was dying, and, uh...

and he started saying,

"I'm sorry.
I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

And I said, "Why are you
saying you're sorry?"

And he looked at me and he said,

"I just don't know
how to do this.

I've never done it before."
[chuckles]

And we just...

Everybody in the room
just burst out laughing.

And, and then, you know,

he died, like,
three minutes later.

[inaudible]

We decided that
if we can't save these folks...

[inaudible]

...we're gonna touch them.

And, and, of course,
that was a time

when nobody even knew
how it was, uh, spread.

The danger was very real.

We were making

an educated guess,
but it was a guess.

We could have been wrong.

...comes in
and grabs my hand. I...

Like I said,
I had no human contact

for a year.

I didn't touch anybody.

[patient 1] I mean,
you, uh, forget love.

You forget things like that.
It's, uh...

When somebody does touch you,
kind of, you're like, "Wow!"

And, and they
didn't have gloves on.

They were... The, the staff.

[George] I mean,
you know, and that...

That makes such
a huge difference.

I mean, you know...

Yeah.

This was a tangible thing
you could do.

[Magee] Wash them,
put moisturizer on them.

[Alison] The night sweats
could be really difficult,

so you might be up all night
with someone

changing their bed
several times.

[patient 2] Other nurses
are afraid of their patients

and wear all these gloves
and things and masks, and...

And over here in this ward,
they're, uh...

not afraid to touch you
or to hold your hand, and...

They were permitting us to share

this intimate experience
of their dying.

It scares me to think that
I'll be laying on some slab.

[patient 3] Uh, that's
what scares me the most.

[somber music]

And I said to staff...

[Cliff]
"People need human contact.

You know how to do it."

[David] And they said,

"Crawl in bed
with this patient."

And this had never happened
in my career.

And I remember just thinking...

"What?"

When I first became a nurse,

there was just this sense
that you were supposed to...

maintain a certain
clinical objectivity.

[Magee]
And boundaries are important,

but here...

you were allowed
to love your patients.

[Alison]
In the early days of the unit,

I met Roger and Gordon.

Gordon had
Pneumocystis pneumonia

and Roger was there with him

as much as he could be.

[Alison] They recreated
their home in the room.

You know, champagne glasses,
even if it's just for water.

And then, Roger was ill.

They couldn't necessarily care
for each other, but...

they were full of grace.

They gave me
these little earrings.

They're not...
They weren't very expensive.

And usually, you know,

you don't take gifts
from patients...

but they wanted
to give me something.

[Alison] Roger died...

and...

Gordon committed suicide
at home.

[somber music]

That was, uh...

It was a very,
really, hard time.

Any major losses lately?

[David] Or major changes?

Uh, outside,
outside the diagnosis today, no.

[David] Family problems?
How is family doing?

[patient 4] Got me.

[nurse 1] I met one young man.

I don't believe his father
would let his mother come.

I mean, what a thing
that they're missing,

that they're...

They're not here with him
when he's hurting.

Just because someone
was biologically your family,

didn't necessarily mean

that they were family at all.

My lifestyle was somewhat

repugnant to my parents.

Bathhouses.

There was a bathhouse
down the street

about eight blocks away.

And, uh...

Every time I'd drive down there
to go downtown, I could...

[patient 5's father]
I would look to see

if my son's car was there.

[Cliff] I remember when
a mother and father appeared,

and the dad was like,

"I want all these people
out of here."

Uh, you know,

"He brought all this on himself.

He's brought disgrace to us."

Someone who has been
your partner,

you know, for years,

is not recognized as a visitor,

or someone who can help you
make decisions.

I mean, how outrageous is that?

[man 4] Everything's
all taken care of, honey.

There's nothing more
to take care of.

[Cliff]
So, we started letting patients

define who was family.

[Alison] No one
had really done that.

Everyone is so intimidated.

There was never a question
of whether you were a relative,

if you were there
to see somebody,

you got to see somebody.

The nurses on, uh, 5B were...

in charge.

They made the rules
as they went along.

And because
they did such a great job

taking care of patients,

what is the hospital
administration going to do?

[Guy]
Stuff that seems obvious now,

it was revolutionary.

[Harry]You could have your pet.

Pets could visit.

Nurses would squeeze your pet in
and put it under a coat.

[Cliff] If their partner wants
to lay next to them in bed...

we know how to make that happen.

Other professionals
would come in,

and you could see the look...

"Oh, my god, they're...
You know, what are they doing?"

-[camera shutter clicking]
-[indistinct chatter]

[chattering continues]

Good afternoon,
ladies and gentlemen.

The probable cause of AIDS
has been found.

A variant of a known
human cancer virus

called HLT... HTLV-3.

We now have
a blood test for AIDS,

which we hope
can be widely available

within about six months.

I was tested for, uh, HIV,

I think,
before it was called HIV.

When I was negative,

it was, you know...

[stammers]
a huge burden...

um, taken off.

And we could say,
you know, with real certainty,

if I weren't infected by
whatever this thing was,

this was not
transmissible easily.

It was clear.
It wasn't something that was...

that you got if someone sneezed.

It wasn't something that you got

if you touched someone's hand
or hugged them.

But there were still nurses
operating from, um, real fear.

[reporter 4]
A handful of nurses said today,

they're being
discriminated against,

because the hospital
will not allow them

to wear masks and/or gowns,
and/or gloves

around AIDS patients.

There were patients
that were on, uh...

uh, other units that had AIDS.

And, and that they were having
to provide care for 'em.

And we were telling them
how to provide that care.

And some would refuse
to give care.

[reporter 4]
The nurses work on ward 4C,

a family services ward
also used, however,

for overflow cases
from the AIDS ward.

I have to protect myself.

Not only myself,
uh, the, my family,

and also other patients.

And they went to the union,

"We need to make
a grievance about this."

"We don't want to have
to take care of these people."

[reporter 4]
The nurse's lawyer said today...

a recently obtained memo
indicates the hospital

accommodates AIDS patients,

as far as their, quote,
sexual needs are concerned.

The issue here is,
whether or not our clients

are in such close proximity
to these AIDS patients

so that there's danger
of infection to themselves

and, and to the public.

When the charge nurse
went and made her round

to see if he has left,

he was doing this thing.

First of all,
you have to understand

that these patients

are far too ill
to be having sex.

At the same time,
we're a healthcare institution.

We're here to take care of
people's health

and their illnesses.

We're not here to police people.

[Cliff] They felt like,

any nurse that had to work
with people with HIV

should be able to wear, uh,
all the protective clothing,

uh, and equipment
that they want.

Everybody should be wearing
gloves all the time.

This is a battle

for control over
the standard of practice

for the hospital.

[Cliff] The fear was,
as a result of this,

no one would be allowed

to provide human touch
to these people.

And everything we've done
gets dismantled or taken away.

[indistinct chatter]

[EKG beeping]

[garbage man] When I picked out
one of the garbage cans,

you know, when I pulled 'em up,

I just feel something
go like that.

[interviewer 2]
There was a needle

-sticking out of the bag?
-Yeah, out of the bag.

[Paul] This was
a blood-borne infection.

And you don't want
to inject yourself

with someone else's blood.

But it takes one stick.

And if you're unlucky,

then, it could then, you know...

you're dead.

[Alison] You could get stuck
with drawing a needle...

you could get stuck

injecting medication.

I had a needle stick.
It was indeed scary.

[Sasha] The devices
at that time, they...

You would have
a huge honkin' needle.

The manipulation of that,

it's very difficult
to be perfect.

And that sense of foreboding
was horrible.

There are some workers,
even in this hospital,

who are really hysterical
about the level of risk.

And truly believe
that their chances

of becoming infected
are enormous.

[bell ringing]

[Hank] It has been
a devastating five years.

Nearly 3,000 cases of AIDS
have already hit this city.

Half those people have died.

There I am,

one of the first openly gay
TV reporters in the country.

The AIDS epidemic was raging.

But the even darker side
of this story,

what some are already calling
the Plague Years,

still lie ahead.

Oh, god!

Man, I got ... on that arm.

Robinson, lie on your back,
it'll be easier.

We were being bombarded

with stuff
we hadn't seen before.

[coughing]

[patient 6]
Oh, it hurts. It hurts.

Please...

It hurts. Oh, it hurts.

[groans]

[indistinct chatter]

[somber music]

[David]
Her tube will not be able

to be connected to a bag

until it's less than
60 ccs a shift.

She still has that 20-gauge
in her left forearm

which we started on the 15th.

Um, she's complaining
of increased pain.

We need a clean-catch urine
on her

if you can possibly get it.

[Paul] From '85 to '87,

we started having
the first treatments.

[nurse 2] We want you
to drink the medicine.

No.

I'm dying drinking this shit.

[nurse 2] I don't blame you.

The medications have had
horrible side effects,

so patients
would get terrible rashes,

uh, and sometimes
a life-threatening condition.

[Sasha] We didn't know whether
it was gonna help or not.

I thought I would
last longer than this.

Coming up in June,
it's my 26th birthday.

[Paul] And we've learned that
HIV is a virus

with a very long
incubation period.

So we began to realize

that all the people
that tested positive

were not immune.

They were going to get AIDS.

They were going to die.

Um, and so we knew that
we had a problem

that wasn't just
a few thousand here and there,

but hundreds of thousands.

Over a million in the country.

[tense music]

And...

then the numbers just started
shooting through the roof.

[Cliff] We moved to 5A,
which was a larger unit.

-I need to still continue PRL...
-Oh...

I was operating on
so many AIDS patients.

[Paul] It...

felt overwhelming.

People were afraid.

And...

we found ourselves
attacking each other.

Everyone was so stressed.

[groaning, whimpering]

Come on, sit down.
Sit down, sweetie.

Come on, sweetie. Come on.

How do you do this?

[groaning]

[woman 1 whimpering]

[breathing heavily]

[clicks tongue]
You'd go to the post office...

and the guy who'd been behind
the counter for years...

-was gone.
-Gone.

People were being kicked out
of their apartments.

People were, uh, being fired.

Uh, there was a, a guy
at a company in San Francisco...

who had died of AIDS,

and they burned his desk
in the parking lot.

AIDS is 100% fatal.

And we're still having arguments

about protecting people's rights
who've got the disease.

I mean, we gotta be focusing
on what we do...

to prevent all of us

from getting the disease
and dying.

These wars were going on

all around you.

If we report those
who have the virus,

the existing system
of confidentiality

will protect them just as well.

[Dr. Mervyn]
That's absolutely false.

It's very strange
to hear someone say,

"Since it's just in gays
and just in IV drug users,

why should we worry about it?"

Fearmongering really was

the, the point of view
of the day.

He proposes that carriers
should be tattooed...

on the forearm and the buttocks

to keep the disease
from spreading.

I don't understand why gays

are opposed
to this particular suggestion.

Yeah, there was a whole lot of,

you know, "fuck you",
in our feelings.

So, there was a real emphasis,
you know,

make sure
that you get filmed touching.

[Cliff]
Because this is the single,

most powerful message
that we can get across.

[Hank] Nurses are subversive.

You know, I didn't know
I was being used like that

till you just told me.

And I love it.

[Rita] Back then,

I lived...

on Dolores Street.

And you had your village,
you had your tribe.

When I was at the ward...

I realized,
as I'm walking around...

I know this person,
and I know this person...

and I, I was like...

And, and I can remember...

feeling totally overwhelmed,
because...

"Oh, my god,
I know all these people.

I know everybody here."

[chuckles]

[lively music]

[reporter 5]Every other Sunday,
there is a party on Ward 5B.

Tap show at two o'clock.

[Rita]
We would make chicken, turkey,

they loved ham,
they loved macaroni salad.

And you might say
you don't want no cake,

but when I put it in your face,

"Girl, give me
some of that cake."

[lively music]

A 7UP for Room 3.

[Alison]Everyone who could come
to that end of that unit

would come down.

[Rita] We'd all sit
in the lounge

and eat like a family.

They used to crack me up.

"I'll have a large everything
and a Diet Coke."

I'm like,
"Honey, this is a AIDS ward,

we don't have anything diet."

[Magee] When people's dignity

is so threatened,

and there's so much fear...

God, you need some ice cream
on the unit.

♪ This is the time
For getting down ♪

[David] And she was going to
all these different bars

to raise money for these things.

[Rita] I was just
the head cheerleader of a team.

I've had families tell me...

"This is the first dinner
we've had together in 20 years."

[David] When she came,

the patients would come out
of their rooms.

They may not have been out
all week.

[Rita] We had all
these terrible, terrible jokes.

I used to say,
"I love you to pieces."

And they'd say, "Well, don't say
you love me to death."

[laughs]

[Alison]
Where death was so present,

why not bring life
and laughter and joy?

-[laughs]
-[machine whirs]

-[David] Okay.
-I got it, thanks to you.

-I'll be back.
-[Harry] I mean,

it's wonderful to make it

a wonderful place
where you can go die.

But it doesn't take away
from the fact that they died.

[inaudible]

I don't want nobody here
to give up.

And I don't think
that they will.

But...

maybe they will, I don't know.

The nurses would always tell me
who can eat,

who can't eat,
who really needs to eat,

or who really needs a hug.

[Rita] Like my friend Shane,
he was 23.

And I'll never forget
he liked vegetarian food.

And I would get him vegetarian
lasagna and bring it to him.

I was like, "Okay."

[Rita] And I would go
and sit with him

and he would talk
about his family.

[Leah]One night my dad called,

and he said...

"Greg's gay.

He just told me he's gay."

This was 1979,

and we didn't know anybody gay.

My dad was pretty angry

and threw him up
against the wall.

So...

[inhales sharply]
Um...

I guess he... then he just went
in his room or something,

and then left the next day.

Didn't come back.

I grew up believing,
and I still do, scripturally,

it's not okay.

Uh, the homosexual lifestyle.

It was very painful
for my sister and for...

uh, the rest of the family.

[Rita]
He wanted his family there.

And...

it was heartbreaking.

But at the time...

a lot of families had
to wrap their head around,

being gay and having AIDS,
all at the same time.

And America
was not ready for that.

[news theme music playing]

[host 1]
This is The AIDS Connection

An All-Night Dialogue,

live from across America.

[female host]
And we have the results

of our 900-number survey

for this half hour,
in answer to the question,

"Are you convinced that AIDS

cannot be spread
by casual contact?"

And it's close.

[Magee] You know,
people were worrying about

eating at a restaurant.

What if the chef
or the server had HIV?

I remember...

um, being at parties

and asking... uh, people asking,
"What do you do for a living?"

And I would say what,
what I did, you know?

"I work with people with HIV."

And, people...
That was a conversation stopper.

People would just sort of
literally back off.

One of my, um, uh, sisters

had, uh, her second child.

And so the first time
I went home

to visit my new niece.

And I was very excited
to see her.

I hear my sister from the back
of the room...

and she's a nurse,
a registered RN,

and she's screaming,

"Don't let George
breathe on the baby!"

I was in People magazine.

It was in March.

My baby was born in April.

[Rita] So I was very pregnant.

Straight, white female
sitting on a bed

with a person with AIDS.

I got hate mail.

I had to get a restraining order
at one point,

because...

somebody was threatening me.

All the strides
that had been made

in terms of gay rights,
up until that time,

were just kind of
pushed off the table.

When somebody comes at you
and is looking you in the eye,

and is calling you a queer,
a faggot,

and a... [bleeps]

[man 5] What would you call it?

[indistinct chatter]

[man 6] Bring it on, man.

Come on.

Bring it on, punk.

[grunts]

[man 6]
Bring it on, you fucking faggot!

Bring it on, man.

-Come on!
-[man 7] Hit him.

[grunts]

Come on, punk.

[man 7] Shit.

[somber music]

[Alison] People are afraid
of the unknown,

and the fear
can really escalate.

[reporter 6] Locally,
shocked healthcare workers

learned a nurse
at San Francisco General

was infected after
an accidental needle stick.

[Julie] It's a tragedy

that's happened
to a very dedicated

um, hospital worker
who was doing everything right.

[Magee] One of us
had been stuck with a needle

and that person
was now infected with HIV.

I mean, this was...

This was our worst nightmare.

[somber music]

The nurse became
known as Jane Doe.

[Cliff] I remember being asked
by media people...

"Do you know
who this person is?"

And I was glad to be able
to say, "No, I don't."

Whoever this person is,

we wanna do everything we can
to protect them.

[reporter 7] The odds
of contracting the virus,

even after sticking yourself

with an infected needle,
are tiny.

But it happened
at San Francisco General

to a nurse we'll call Jane.

[Jane] We are chronically
fighting for more staff,

we're tired.

Did you have trouble
accepting this?

[Jane] Uh, tremendous.
I still do.

I still do.

[somber music]

That was just
the most awful thing.

[David] I went through a spell

where I was drinking more
every night, when I went home.

Coping with it with
whatever mechanisms you had.

[Cliff] This could be
extremely damaging to

what we're trying
to accomplish here.

Nurses were forbidden to wear
masks, gloves, and gowns

while in close direct personal
contact with AIDS patients.

I.e., cleaning their bodies,

dressing wounds
that were dripping,

changing bed linens
that were soiled.

There had been
this group that had,

for some time, been complaining

that they wanted to wear
all the protective clothing

all the time.

[Cliff] And they want the Union
and the Department of Health

to support them.

Yeah, they're simply saying,

"Look, for the sake of
the AIDS patient,

and for the, for our sake,

the sake of hospital personnel
and the public,

um, let's take
precautionary measures."

They knew how to use the media,

and now, of course,

they got
Congressman Dannemeyer...

to raise the pressure.

[reporter 7]
These charges against

San Francisco General Hospital
aren't new, but they are strong.

Strong enough that tonight,
Congressman Bill Dannemeyer

said the grand jury

should open
a criminal investigation.

I think we have
a duty to protect...

uh, those
healthcare professionals

who are taking care
of these patients.

And they felt that any nurse

that had to work
with people with HIV,

should definitely be paid more.

[Cliff] All of us.

If that's the case,

the holistic...

uh, model of care, nursing,
and social work

that we created together
on the ward

would no longer be affordable.

[Alison] If we lost,

will I be able
to keep my staff there?

Because we were already viewed
as overstaffed.

"Why should they get more?"

Often, I would be down there
in the nursing office,

and I'd be fighting.

[indistinct chatter]

[Alison] "You come and see.

How are we going to do it?"

"What, you know?
What would you have us do?"

We were being attacked
on all fronts.

I mean...

Um, politically,
medically, um...

Psychologically, socially.

I mean, it sucked.

[Cliff] And there was
a very prominent doctor

at San Francisco General
that agreed with them.

Someone else described my risk

as being 12% per year
and 49% at the end of five years

of turning positive

for, uh...
from occupational exposure.

[whirring]

[Lorraine] I ran a MASH unit.

Blood would always go through
to our underwear

and on our abdominal skin,

and it was going round
in our eyes and all that.

[reporter 8 ]
Dr. Lorraine Day is so afraid

that she dons a space suit
every time she operates

in a hospital which
has already had one nurse

infected on the job.

Those space suits had been
worn by orthopedic surgeons

for years.

Uh, to protect the patient.

[Lorraine] Because then
your air you're breathing

wouldn't go
into the operating room.

It was taken
with a tube outside.

All I did was add
a filter of the air

that came in
that we were breathing.

That's all.

It looked the same.

[drill whirs]

I did think it was an
interesting scientific question

about whether particles
of the virus

would be aerosolized in the air.

[Magee]
If you were to breathe that in,

would that be
a method of transmission?

[Lorraine]There were, I think,
30,000 orthopedic surgeons

in the country at that time.

I was the 12th woman.

And for a woman

to be the head
of orthopedic surgery

at a hospital like
San Francisco General Hospital,

which, because
it's a major trauma hospital,

really unique, uh, at the time.

[Lorraine] I was stuck by
my co-surgeon with this,

and fortunately,
it only went through two gloves.

It didn't go through
three gloves.

And we had patients
with the usual risk factors

for AIDS or HIV.

But I didn't know
who was infected.

That was the problem.

I think that everyone
who is in a position

to touch the patient
and deal with their body fluids,

should know.

She, understandably,
was worried about that.

How she spoke about it.

Where she went with it.

That's what
was really problematic.

[Lorraine]
A patient comes to us,

they demand to be taken care of,

but then they say to us,
in essence...

"I have this loaded gun
under my coat

which can go off
and kill you at any moment

and I'm not gonna tell you."

[Magee] She was, you know,
a little bit glamorous.

[Cliff] Attractive,
dressed well.

If she were to step on your foot
with those spiked heels...

You know, it would go
right through your foot.

Um, and, you know,
and the personality to match.

[Lorraine] It's not
patients first, it's doctors.

It is that each individual

has no right to put
another person's life at risk.

[reporter 8] In the absence
of compulsory testing,

Dr. Day routinely requests
all her patients...

to take an AIDS test
before she operates.

-[Lorraine] How you feeling?
-I'm feeling fine.

[Lorraine]

Yes.

[Lorraine] We can test
any patient for any disease

without an informed consent.

Except AIDS.

Which turned out was not...

not politically correct.

Doctors find out
they're positive

and say,
"I'm not gonna treat them."

It's happened in Shasta County,

it's happened
in San Mateo County

here in California.

It's happened in a lot of places
across this country.

I never said I would refuse
medical care.

[Lorraine]
I just think that my life

versus the confidentiality
of the patient

should at least be a factor
that should be considered.

I never even thought about

refusing to care for
an AIDS patient, ever!

[Lorraine] I'm not gonna deny
any surgery,

but we need to know
what we're dealing with.

Other people who don't know
what goes on

in an operating room will say,

"Well, why don't you
just take those

same precautions for everybody?"

We can't wear that expensive,
bulky equipment on everybody.

[Paul] She became convinced,
I think that...

we were forcing her
to assume risks

that were going to result
in the deaths of...

surgeons everywhere.

We knew, long before
AIDS came along,

that something horrible
was gonna happen

to that community.

Just in terms
of being a community

that would vector

into any kind
of communicable disease.

And I have to say,
if it hadn't been this,

it would have been
something else.

[Lorraine] They do
a lot of drugs and they...

They have a lot of alcohol
in that community.

They had multiple
sexual relationships.

[Harry] In some people's minds,

the bathhouses
were just constant orgies,

going on all the time,
and that's not true.

But obviously, you had sex.

[Lorraine] A whole lot of them
either had AIDS,

or were high-risk for AIDS.

I just wanted half a chance
to stay alive.

Why was it bad that I wanted
the patient to be tested

for the safety
of the healthcare worker?

[ominous music]

[reporter 9] Northern Florida.

Three hemophiliac boys
infected with the AIDS virus

are banned from school

in the face
of community hostility.

Shortly after
they were readmitted,

their home was burned down.

[man 8]
I went over there last night.

You can look at it,
and obvious the fire started

in the children's bedroom.

Whoever did it
was trying to make a point.

[Magee] What was going to
be done with information

about who was HIV positive?

There were
horrible things happening

in other parts of the country
that you would hear about.

Children being discriminated
against in their school,

families having to move.

Being ostracized.

[somber music]

[Magee] It was
a very scary time around...

uh, the idea of people's
identities being known.

[Alison]
Up at the nurses' station,

you saw a whiteboard

with patients' names,
and we didn't have last names.

Because people could be...

...persecuted.

[reporter 10] Rural Tennessee.

Angry parents fight against

letting a hemophiliac boy
with AIDS

into the local public school.

Who's to say that this kid

might get mad at somebody
and go bite 'em?

[woman 2] Scratch 'em?
I mean, who's to say this?

You don't know
what's gonna happen.

It's like putting a loaded gun
in the school,

and just hoping and praying
it don't go off.

[woman 3] Oh, yeah.

Read that, baby.

Read that.

You're trying to kill
everybody else.

Yeah, and then?

But you're not gonna kill
my baby!

-[engine revs]
-[woman 3] Hey!

[man 9] Go to hell!

[Magee] Could you be
thrown out of your apartment?

Would you lose your job?

What if your insurance changed?

Would you not be able
to get further healthcare?

It's a concern.

They might lose their job.

But you have to do
the right thing.

[Shane]

Just not...

[Asbury]
When I was visiting with Greg,

I didn't know if I had...

put myself in a position where

I was going to contract
the disease.

I... It was just a scary thing.

[Asbury] Everybody that he knew
in San Francisco

called him Shane.

But his family called him Greg.

[Rita] Everybody had nicknames.

And I don't know why.

Like, Doug's name was Doug.

We called him Fluffy.

[Asbury] He was very sick.

But, on visits
when he felt good...

we went to the beach.

There was one time
we were feeding the birds,

throwing bread out.

[birds cawing]

[Asbury] One bird
had a broken foot.

And Greg took it as his mission

to make sure
that this bird got food.

Greg's heart was huge.

[Shane]

[Asbury] I remember,
at one point,

Greg's dad came
to visit Greg at the hospital.

[Rita] I remember Shane feeling
like his father didn't like him.

Shane was young.

You know,
he would say it like that,

"My dad doesn't like me."

[Asbury] It was not
a healthy interaction

between father and son.

Critical parent,

needy child,

and wanting very much
to be loved and liked, and...

and I didn't see that happening.

[Shane]

[paper rustles]

[Shane coughing]

[Rita] He was very scared.

He said,
"I'm worried about my mom.

I'm worried about things.

I'm worried about Dan."

Dan was his partner.

I didn't know how to tread
in that water

of going...
[stutters]

You know, having
a relationship with Danny,

I didn't know
what to do with it.

This was new to me.

The whole gay community
was new to me.

And I was still trying
to figure it out for myself.

[Reagan] It's time we knew
exactly what we were facing.

And that's why I support
some routine testing.

I've asked

the Department of Health
and Human Services

to determine as soon as possible

the extent to which
the AIDS virus

has penetrated our society,

and to predict
its future dimensions.

I stood in front of
Ronald Reagan in 1987,

in Washington,

when he was giving a speech.

It was the first time

he mentioned AIDS publicly,
1987.

All right? Six years
into the epidemic.

I made a note
in my reporter's notebook

that night,
the night of that speech,

as I'm looking at him,
that, that...

I made a note that
at that moment,

that he said that word
for the first time,"AIDS,"

21,000 Americans
had already died.

That's what I remember.

[reporter 11] The members
of President Reagan's commission

on the AIDS epidemic

prepared for their first look
at the virus that causes AIDS.

There were eight men
and five women.

Few of them
had any depth of experience.

Either with the virus
or the people sick from it.

That included the chairman,
James Watkins.

I was working
with this really lovely man,

um, who, I think,
had his fourth bout

of Pneumocystis pneumonia,

and he had agreed to meet
with a representative

from Ronald Reagan's, uh,
presidential AIDS commission.

[Magee] And the representative
from the commission

had declined
to shake the patient's hand.

Nothing hit me harder

than the betrayal
of this country.

Nothing is, is worse...

[Hank]
Uh, Mayor Dianne Feinstein,

her AIDS budget for the city
of San Francisco was bigger

than President Reagan's was
for the entire nation.

And that was true
for two years in a row.

Hank Plante
has the latest tonight

in an exclusive
AIDS Lifeline report.

Hank.

I always enjoyed,
uh, talking to the bad guys.

[reporter 12] Many
insurance companies are worried

about future health benefits
they might have to pay

if gay policyholders come down
with AIDS.

[Hank] There was a guy
who had applied for insurance,

and they couldn't ask him
if he was gay.

Because that was against the law
in California.

[reporter 13] What's the point
of, uh, singling out

hairdressers,
and waiters, and, uh...

people who work
in non-stressful jobs like that?

So they sent him
a questionnaire that said,

"Have you ever worked
as a florist,

a hairdresser, or a decorator?"

Classify them into groups,

so they can be charged
a fair premium.

-That's the basis of--
-But what's a fair premium for,

for somebody
who might have the AIDS virus?

[spokesman] It's whatever risk
he chooses--

Would you write a policy
for somebody

you knew had the AIDS virus?

No, probably not.

He looked at me and...
right into the camera,

and he said,
"Why didn't they just ask me

if I could lip-synch
to Judy Garland records?"

[chuckles]

We have called
this press conference

as a result,
and following a recent article

in theSan Francisco Chronicle.

[Magee]
The Chronicle wrote an article

that said, "Hey, remember
that healthcare worker

that got infected with HIV
at San Francisco General?"

Well, Jane Doe's
paying out of pocket

for her healthcare costs,

because she doesn't wanna tell
her insurance company

that she has HIV.

"The risk of being infected
from a single bloody needle

is relatively small.

But try telling that
to Jane Doe."

The whole point of the struggle
for Jane Doe...

[muted dialogue]

...was to maintain
the confidentiality.

There was a rally in the lobby
of San Francisco General,

and I was there.

[Magee] To be there was bizarre.

Because... I am Jane Doe.

[Magee] I worked
12-hour night shifts,

and it was the 11th hour.

And I was working with a patient
who was really sick

with Cryptococcal meningitis.

So, I pull out the long tube
that has a needle at the end.

And I need to dispose of this.

And I went to put the needle

through the rubber port
at the end of the bag,

and it went through, it, it...

You know,
I didn't aim correctly.

And it went through the bag
and into my index finger.

[Magee] This was
an absolute puncture

with a needle
that was filled with blood.

What do I do now?

I went to the bathroom,

turned on the water,

and, you know,
massaged my finger

to try to get my finger
to bleed out.

It was nerve-racking.

I had been a nurse
for two years.

I'd not had a needlestick.

I remember her coming to me

in my office, and telling me...

With a lot of sympathy,
she said,

"Oh, it's always hard
the first time."

She was tested,
but it takes a while

for the test results
to come back.

Within a week or so,

I developed a high fever.

[Magee] I started to worry.

[Alison] I was at work
when I heard that she...

was now HIV positive.

And we had
to tell her really soon,

because we wouldn't want her
to infect...

infect someone else
inadvertently.

[Magee]
It was a Saturday morning,

and the doorbell rang.

And I could see
my nurse manager,

Alison Moed,
standing on the sidewalk.

And then I knew.

And I remember the room.

I don't remember what I said.

I said to her...

"I'll never breastfeed."

"I'll never have a child."

[whimpers]

Sorry.

She was a beautiful
young person.

[Alison] She was a beautiful
young woman who...

who was just starting her life,

who had come to help.

To help these
other beautiful young people

who were, you know, attacked
in the midst of their lives.

And...

you know...

I couldn't protect her.

You know, what I was really
thinking about

was how am I gonna
tell my parents.

[somber music]

[Magee] I flew home.

Later on,

after I told one of my brothers,

he came into the house
and my father embraced him,

and wept, and said, um...

"I can't... I can't bury her.
I can't bury her."

I went back.
I needed to be back.

I needed to be...
I needed to be, uh...

on a unit.

[Magee] I was desperate
and adamant about

holding on
to everything that I could.

And one of the things I was,
was a nurse.

So, I kind of just threw myself
into that.

I drew so much strength

from the example of my patients,
from the courage of my patients.

They helped me go on.

And I was so fortunate.

I had made a really good friend
in Sasha Cuttler

who was a nurse on 5A.

And I was able
to tell him right away.

I just, I just felt like,

"This is, this is so weird.
We're, we're both so young."

[Magee] I got
a lot of attention. A lot.

You know, I was kind of billed
as the innocent victim.

I wanted no part of that.

This idea of like,

"Oh, this, this angel of mercy
has been infected

by these,
these scuzzy patients."

[Sasha] How she became infected,

it doesn't make her
a better person.

The disease doesn't care.

[train rumbling]

[sighs]

[Alison] We would record
their deaths here.

Through the end of 1983,

24 patients.

And so, then, in 1984,

117 patients.

We were starting
to be very overwhelmed.

[nurse 3]He died in his sleep.

[inhales sharply]
[nurse 4] Oh, shit.

[Alison] The nurses gave,
and they gave, and they gave.

[machine beeping]

[somber music]

[Ann] A lot of people
are in deep problems

with their families, and...

I've never really thought
of myself as a parent,

but I do here.

And I find myself, occasionally,
calling patients "son."

And I've never done that
anywhere.

But I can't help it.

I... I feel like a mother.

[David] Because you were in
a such interpersonal level,

that level of loss
was there, too.

[somber music]

[somber music continues]

[Alison]
I just see so many lives.

As if...

I... If I look at the faces,
I see

I see so much life force.

And I, I...

There were so many stories
as there are...

so many people
doing so many things.

And then... But they're gone.

[Alison] Look at this.

That's '86, '87.

These were all lives
that had faces for us.

"Gordon Pennisi.

Michael Waycaster.

James Foote.

Bill Palmatier. Terry Deklats."

These were my friends
who were dying.

People have sewn real life
into these quilts.

Teddy bears, photographs,

locks of hair,
and a lot of love letters.

[Hank] By reporting on it,

I could channel my grief
and my anger.

[patient 7] You just didn't know

that there was a virus
out there.

And by the time I knew,

I stopped having
that kind of risky sex.

And, you know, four years later,

I found out that I was infected
from before.

I mean, they were so courageous,

these people,

uh, to go on camera

and to bare their souls
in 1986, '87.

People just look
at the condition,

and lose sight
that there's a person there.

All this equipment,
it's like Ringling Bros.,

setting up the lights, sound,
and everything.

And saying,
"What's it like to have AIDS?"

Basically,
that's what we're saying.

"What's your life like?"
"Well, I'm dying."

[Hank] But they looked right
in the camera and did it.

And I think it was because

they wanted to help
other people.

And they wanted
to help other people

not get the disease,

and figure out how to cope
with it if they had it.

So, I, I remember them,

and I admire them,
and I love them

for being able to do that.

Everybody around me died.

Uh, it, it's why today,

I don't have
a lot of friends my age.

They're gone.

[Guy] I met Steve on, uh,
on Friday the 13th,

at this bar called the Pendulum.

And two weeks later, uh,

Steve moved in, um,
to my apartment.

He, he was in great health
for the first number of years.

And then one morning he woke up,

and he could not get out of bed.

And he tested HIV positive.

I was so angry that HIV...

was now in my family life.

It was like...
As if I had a right.

[Guy] He wasn't yet dying,

but it was just
a matter of time.

After that,

how much does the small stuff
really matter?

Friend of mine died on the unit.

I took care of him,

wrapped his body,
and sent it to the morgue.

You don't wanna go home,
and figure out

what Diana Ross was wearing
to the Grammys.

It's so trivial.

[Cliff] I saw what a toll
it was taking on us.

[Alison] Some people
got counseling,

or talked,
talked to significant others.

Some people used drugs
or alcohol.

It broke my heart
to see these people

losing their children.

[somber music]

[woman 3]
You need to let go, okay?

Just...
[sobs]

...go before Mom
and Dad come back, okay?

Just...

Sean and I are here with you,
like we've always been.

We're with you, okay?

I've also asked HHS
to add the AIDS virus

to the list
of contagious diseases

for which immigrants and aliens
seeking permanent residence

in the United States
can be denied entry.

[people clamor, jeering]

I think it's in our interest
as Americans

to reduce the drain
on our healthcare system.

You're prepared to tell others
that they have to leave

the United States,
is that right?

Sometimes you make
tough choices in life.

[William] Favor adding AIDS

to the list of diseases
that must be quarantined,

56% of the American people
answered that, yes...

They wanted to isolate us

and put us... and quarantine us
on an island.

Of course, we said,
if it was Santa Catalina,

we would go for it.

[Hank] All of that was happening
on the outside world.

And so, then,
you had this bubble

where people were taking care
of people on the ward.

[Rita]
Shane ate like a teenager.

And then when he didn't eat,

it was...
then, then I got scared.

And... his birthday's coming up.

[Cameron]
Shane had only one lung.

His other lung
was filling with fluid.

And, uh...

Um, he was gonna have to decide

whether he wanted
to continue to live or not.

[Cameron] We talked
and he said that,

that the most important thing
to him was

to stay alive until his father

could eventually come around
to, uh, accepting him,

and hopefully, see him again.

[Asbury] I took my guitar
and played for him a few times.

Sweet songs from church that...

I wanted to remind him
that God loved him.

And so, I was in the Army,
and I was stationed in Germany.

And, um, we were out on bivouac,

actually, out in the field.

And all of a sudden,
this helicopter came, landed,

and people are rushing out,

and they come over to me,
and they, and they were...

"Your brother's in the hospital.

He's not gonna make it.
We're flying you back.

You're on an emergency flight.

We got your bags packed."

They put me on that helicopter,

took me right
to the flight line,

put me on an emergency flight,
and I was outta there...

rushing to get back
to San Francisco.

[Leah] He couldn't breathe.

He was like...
[wheezes]

Doctor came in and said,

"We don't even know
why he's hanging on.

He's... He should be
gone by now.

He's hanging on for something."

Greg's dad, um...

came to the hospital,

and was with the family.

His dad wasn't,
like, in the room,

so I took that chance

to tell him,

"Shane needs
to know you love him.

And he needs to know you care."

[Rita] He said something about,
"Well, I'm here."

And I said, "But he needs
to hear your words.

He needs you to say it."

[somber music]

So, my dad had everyone else
leave the room.

[Leah] And then he told him,

"You know, Greg,

you're a bigger man
than I will ever be.

And I'm proud of you.

And...

You know I love you,
and it's okay to go."

[Rita]
After we sang "Happy Birthday,"

he was gone.

Just like that.

[Shane]

[church bell tolling]

And I remember on one weekend,
it was Saturday,

and we had three services
that day.

Then, Sunday morning,

we had our regular church
service.

There was another memorial
that afternoon.

[light music]

[George] And they came
to my church, to MCC church.

And they protested out front
with "God hates fags."

"Fags should die."

We're in there mourning
the loss of the people

that they're out there
complaining against.

[somber music]

[George] It was so hard for us
not to want to go out there

and throw stones.

So we went out there
and we sang to them.

And they got back in their van
and they left.

[somber music]

[David] Occasionally,
you would get a minister

pop in and go around
and be proselytizing.

I was always amazed
at how cruel they could be.

You have someone who's dying,

and they're saying things
like, "Repent."

And there were times when
we had to ask them to leave.

[David] No, not on our watch.

[car horn honks]

[tense music]

[Cliff] We're here.

It's make or break.

We were told by the attorneys
we were working with,

"Prepare for the worst.

This, this may not go very well
for you."

[reporter 14]The nurse's lawyer
told labor referee,

Timothy Sakamaki,

that AIDS is quote,

"Spreading to
the heterosexual community,

and these nurses
are in the forefront."

Only linen with blood and feces
is being double-bagged.

The rest of the linen

is just treated
as normally-soiled linen.

And I feel we should be
more cautious with the linen.

And also, that nurses
should have the right

to determine when they need
to wear a mask based

on common-sense principles.

[Cliff] We were being attacked.

A lot of it was directed at me.

"How can you call yourself
a professional

when you're being so reckless,

and... and, you know,

willing to put yourself
and other people

in harm's way?"

Now the four nurses
are telling us

there is
a homosexual hierarchy here,

and that it practices a sort of
reverse discrimination.

Majority of the head nurses
and supervisors

are lesbians
and, uh, homosexuals.

[reporter 15] So, what kind
of difference does that make?

Uh, it has a bearing on...

on how the policy
is being, uh, made up,

and, uh...

how it's being implemented.

This nurse just, kind of,
went off on a rant.

It's like
a preferential treatment

for AIDS patients.

I knew there was homophobia
in the world,

but not, not among nurses.

[Cliff]Her husband was really
kind of pushing the whole thing.

The terminology
was that it would frighten them

if the nurse walked in
with a mask on.

Their psychosexual
social adjustment.

I think it was about
more than AIDS, yeah.

I mean, AIDS became a vehicle

to justify
people's hatred of gays.

There was all sorts of money
being given to the AIDS ward.

[Lorraine] And...
Why didn't the other patients

get special things?

Everybody deserves treatment.

Including the pimp
who set his hooker on fire.

They all deserve treatment.

But, see...
But don't make them heroes.

[Lorraine] They only cared about
their own pleasure.

Why did they choose to have sex?

It's like, "Hello?
That's what people do."

[William]
In these AIDS care centers,

you find out
what they're really doing...

is propagandizing
the homosexual lifestyle.

I admire their clout,

and their, their ability
to con the system

into getting
all these federal tax dollars

ostensibly to fight AIDS.

Nurse Bernales also testified
that AIDS patients

are free to wander around
the hospital anytime they like.

They're free to visit
the public cafeteria here.

And they're free to use

the public drinking fountains
in the hallways.

They let them go and spit

where we wash our hands,
on the sinks.

-Visitation by their lovers...
-Yeah.

...24 hours a day ongoing,

and putting people at risk,

and nurses not telling them

the diagnoses of AIDS patients.

I can't comment, it's so absurd.
Thank you.

[Cliff] It was so heated
and so vehement.

"My wife shouldn't have
to do this."

No, she shouldn't.
She has a choice.

She can leave.

Members of the Labor Board
had specific questions

about practices,
what we were doing,

were there policies,
were there procedures.

[tense music]

[Cliff] That went on all day.

And I thought it was gonna
go on several days.

And the response
from the union was,

"That is not only
not a union issue,

you have a duty to care."

[calm music]

Any kind of isolation barrier

between the individual
who's providing care

and the patient

gets in the way to some extent.

We'd like to avoid
any kind of a barrier

unless it's really necessary.

[Cliff] We were vindicated.

We all took oaths.

Nurses cannot,
legally, ethically,

refuse to care for anyone.

If it's within our capability
to do so,

then we have to do it.

There, there is a risk
in this work.

[Magee]
It's just part of nursing.

[Guy] You are always gonna work
with bodily fluids.

So, if that is a problem,

then, then maybe other...
you know,

then accounting may be
a better option.

We began to feel
like the tide had turned.

[reporter 16]
British Health Minister,

Norman Fowler,
has come to San Francisco

to study our AIDS care
and research.

[Alison] People came to our unit
from worldwide

to find out what we were doing.

How or why we weren't afraid.

[crowd applauding]

[Watkins] I didn't realize
how little I knew.

We had our own
ideological biases

that were unconnected
with the facts

surrounding the epidemic.

[light music]

[Guy] It's brought change
for how hospitals work.

You don't have to have
a hazmat suit

every time you're around
an AIDS person.

You don't have to burn
their bed because they died.

I'd like to introduce you

-to some of our staff.
-Ah, sorry.

[Lorraine] They were having
a heyday with all the attention

they were getting.

Except when the cameras
were rolling,

they were no different
than all the rest of the nurses

at San Francisco General.

Civil service breeds laziness.

[Lorraine] What do we do?

We just stroke them,
and cuddle them,

and give them teddy bears.
What are we supposed to do?

What, what is it

that they supposedly did
that was so fantastic?

I've stayed with a lot
of patients when they were dying

when they had no one else.

Well, where was their family?

Where were the other gay guys
who had given them the disease?

[somber music]

[Lorraine] Touching them
is nothing at all.

You can touch them all you want.

I had their blood on me!

Those nurses on the AIDS ward
didn't have

nearly the hazardous duties
that we had.

I never saw them
portraying us as heroes.

[Guy] One morning he woke up,
and he was confused.

Steve made no sense
when he was talking.

And eventually, he, uh...
he sank into a coma.

He stopped responding
altogether.

And, and then,

you know, as it happens,
sometimes with people

who are bedbound

and... and, and, and frail

and immunocompromised,
then he got pneumonia.

[Guy] I worked on the ward
while Steve was there.

And I would sleep,

made a little cot for me,
next to his bed.

And so,
I would talk to him about...

[sniffles]

"It's a beautiful sunrise.

I'm gonna go to work.

I'm gonna come back
as soon as I'm done."

One morning,
I woke up, and, um...

and...

he had his eyes open.

He couldn't speak,

but I could tell
that he was there.

[breathes sharply]

These aren't tears of sadness,

they're tears of joy.

[Steve] Tears of joy.

You know,

I feel like I've had
a second chance.

[sobs]

[breathes heavily]

Um...

Things changed really,
really dramatically in 1996.

[reporter 17] The hope comes
from a new class of medications

called protease inhibitors.

They knock out the AIDS virus,

so it cannot be detected
in the bloodstream.

[Hank]When protease inhibitors
came along,

we knew that was the real deal.

I feel like I'm alive
because of them.

Bay Area Reporter.
It was a paper.

Um, and they ran obituaries,

used to be pages long!

I mean, every...
And they came out once a week.

Um...

And I remember the first time
when they said,

there were no obits
to put in that week.

[David] It had been years
since that happened.

[Paul] I remember talking
to Marilyn Chase

who was
aWall Street Journal reporter,

and tears were coming down.

That was a wonderful moment,

because, finally, it looked like
we had something.

[Guy] Now, we, we have deaths,

but not at that same level,
so...

it's not over.

I can't retire yet.

[Asbury] We talked on the phone
a few times,

Danny and I.

But I didn't stay
in touch with him.

It was two or three years
after Greg had, had died.

He himself did contract AIDS.

I sent him a letter,

and just...

Um...

[Asbury sniffles]

The day that the letter
came back to me,

stamped "Deceased,"

was, um...

was a time
that was hard for me...

because I regretted
not having the ability

to show Danny the compassion

that I knew he needed
just as much as Greg did.

And I didn't know how.

And I always regretted that.

And I didn't wanna forget...

how important it was
to reach out

to someone
who was hurting like that.

I kept the letter...

unopened,

that I had sent him,
that came back.

I still have it.

Stamped "Deceased" on it.

I didn't wanna forget.

I didn't wanna forget
how important it is

for human beings
to be there for one another.

[door clicks open]

[calm music]

[Rita] Hello!

-I've been looking for you.
-[Cliff] So was I.

[Alison]
There's a kinship there.

As there is for people
who live through any...

devastating experience,
so, um...

You know,
part of me is still there.

I think there's this
whole generation of survivors

who've had this shell shock

that we haven't even dealt with.

Um...

but, I mean, how do you lose
most of your friends?

People died,

but we made a difference
in the way they died.

We made a difference

in the way the people
who loved them were held.

So much in life

is not what you say
or what you do,

it's how you make people feel.

And that's the bottom line.

[Rita] It's how you make
people feel.

[suspenseful music]

The hysteria, the fearmongering,

and how, you know,

some people politicized it,

and, you know,
all those things that...

that if we don't remember that,

that will happen again.

[Paul] The nurses
were the real heroes.

They stood up
when nobody else would.

And they were willing
to take those risks.

Those nurses were colossal.

[sniffles]

Sorry.

I really was so proud...

to be their manager
and to be one of them.

Yeah, they did good things.

[piano playing]

["A Human Touch" playing]

♪ You can call it a decision

♪ I say it's how we're made

♪ There's no point in shouting
From your island ♪

♪ Proclaiming only Jesus saves

♪ There will always
Be suffering ♪

♪ And there will always
Be pain ♪

♪ But because of it

♪ There'll always be love

♪ And love, we know,
It will remain ♪

♪ Everybody gets lonely

♪ Feel like it's all too much

♪ Reaching out
For some connections ♪

♪ Or maybe
Just their own reflection ♪

♪ Not everybody finds it

♪ Not like the two of us

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch

♪ Everybody wants a holiday

♪ Everybody wants
To feel the sun ♪

♪ Get outside and run around

♪ Live like
They're forever young ♪

♪ Everybody wants
To be beautiful ♪

♪ And live life their own way

♪ No one ever wants
To let it go ♪

♪ No matter
What they do or say ♪

♪ Everybody gets lonely

♪ Feel like it's all too much

♪ Reaching out
For some connections ♪

♪ Or maybe
Just their own reflection ♪

♪ Not everybody finds it

♪ Not like the two of us

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch

["A Human Touch" playing]

♪ Everybody gets lonely

♪ Feel like it's all too much

♪ Reaching out
For some connections ♪

♪ Or maybe
Just their own reflection ♪

♪ Not everybody finds it

♪ Not like the two of us

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch

♪ Everybody gets lonely

♪ Feel like it's all too much

♪ Reaching out
For some connections ♪

♪ Or maybe
Just their own reflection ♪

♪ Not everybody finds it

♪ Not like the two of us

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch

♪ Sometimes all anybody needs

♪ Is a human touch