from www.ebar.com – Last October, fear ran rampant throughout the adult entertainment industry when it was revealed that a bisexual performer known at the time as “Patient Zeta” had contracted HIV while performing in a gay video. The patient was tested and diagnosed at the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation in Sherman Oaks, California.

Now, there’s trouble for the foundation. In early December, the California Department of Public Health denied AIM’s application to operate as a medical clinic. According to CDHP spokesman Mike Sicilia, AIM was sent a cease and desist letter in May 2010.

The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, or AIM, was formed in 1998 by Sharon Mitchell [pictured], Ph.D, a noted adult performer of the 1970s and 1980s, who retired from the business in 1996. Mitchell received her doctorate from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality in San Francisco, which Brian Chase, assistant general counsel for the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said is not an accredited school.

Ted McIlvenna, Ph.D., president of the Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, challenged Chase’s assertion. The former Methodist minister claimed that his school is fully qualified and legally entitled to educate its students and award degrees.

“All accreditation means is that you’re eligible to receive federal funding. We are an independent voice. We want nothing to do with federal funding or industry tag money. All we care about is being legal,” McIlvenna said.

McIlvenna remembered Mitchell as a “brilliant student.”

“Ninety percent of what Sharon did at AIM was to focus on women protecting themselves,” he said. “Men didn’t like that. AIM is not about treatment, it’s about prevention. It’ll be a shame if the clinic closes for good, because the film producers don’t give a damn about the performers.”

Since its inception, Mitchell’s foundation has tested erotic performers for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases on a monthly basis. Both gay and straight performers use the clinic’s services, with many actors and producers claiming that a certificate from AIM verifying a clean bill of health is required before an actor can work.

“We had gotten a complaint that they were operating as an unlicensed clinic,” Sicilia said in a phone interview with the Bay Area Reporter, referring to the department’s December 3 action shutting down AIM.

“They submitted an application, and were granted a temporary license on May 28. But as of six months later, they were still operating out of compliance.”

The December 3 letter from the CDPH stated in part, “Based on the lack of response, on the applicant’s behalf, the department has determined that you have not provided evidence satisfactory to be a licensee of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. Pursuant to Health and Safety Code Section 1269, you have 20 days from the mailing of this notice to request a hearing regarding this denial action.”

Things went from bad to worse for AIM when, on December 8, Patient Zeta came forward and identified himself during a Los Angeles press conference held by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Derrick Burts, 24, who performed in straight films as Cameron Reid and in gay films as Derek Chambers, stated that he had languished for two months after his HIV diagnosis without treatment or referrals of any kind, until AHF stepped up to assist him.

“Performers are afraid to speak out,” Burts said in a video posted on AHF’s website. He said that he contracted Chlamydia and herpes on September 2010 film shoots, but was urged by his agent to continue working “because you already have it, and so does everyone else.”

“I thought I’d just take the medication and deal with it,” Burts said. “I guess I was greedy.”

Burts said that condoms were nowhere to be found on straight shoots, but that boxes of condoms were readily available on gay film sets. “My agent told me I could make more money in gay porn. But I knew there was a higher risk of HIV infection in gay shoots,” he said in the video.

Burts believes that he contracted HIV while working on a gay film in Florida. He said that condoms were used, but removed for oral scenes.

Dr. Shilpa Sayana, AHF’s director of global quality management, doesn’t believe that AIM’s methods insure the safety of erotic performers.

“The actors are tested every month, but that is insufficient because they could be in a window period,” she said.

For now, the CDPH is allowing AIM to perform administrative duties, which includes providing performers with test results that were taken before the denial of its license. The clinic may not perform new tests, or any other procedures.

Neither Mitchell nor anyone else at AIM would comment for this story.

Yet Michael Weinstein of AHF told the B.A.R. that AIM is now referring erotic performers to phlebotomists working out of their own homes for HIV and other STD tests. When informed of this, CDPH’s Ralph Montano stated that he didn’t think this was a violation of the cease and desist order, and that there were no plans to take action.

“CDHP has no evidence that AIM operated out of compliance after the cease and desist letter was issued,” Montano said in a statement. “CDPH performed a number of onsite inspections after issuing the cease and desist letter and found no evidence of continued patient services.”

The harshest criticism of AIM came from a most unlikely source. Bill Margold, a performer from porn’s “golden age,” claims that it was he, and not Mitchell, who actually founded AIM. He says that he gave the clinic to Mitchell, who brought the wrath of the CDPH down on herself.

“She loves to see her name in print and is absolutely in love with money,” Margold said. “She drew too much attention to herself.”

Margold also claimed that AIM “hands out medication like Ju Ju Bees,” and said that the clinic has no on-site medical doctor. According to the retired performer, AIM’s sole medical adviser, Dr. Colin Hamblin, lives in Marin County, hundreds of miles from the southern California location of AIM.

Hamblin did not respond to messages seeking comment.

Margold is a staunch opponent of drug use. Injection drug usage, and not HIV, is what puts performers’ immune systems at risk, in his opinion. Margold is also opposed to on-set condom use.

“Rubbers negate the fantasy of sex,” he said.

This is a stand with which AHF’s Chase vehemently disagrees.

“AIM continues to put the needs and convenience of adult film producers before the health and privacy of adult film workers,” Chase said. “AIDS Healthcare Foundation is here to provide top quality medical treatment to anyone who needs it, including adult film performers.”

So does AIM have a future?

“AIM has chosen not to become a community clinic,” said Sicilia. “It’s possible that they will be sold to a private medical corporation. It that happens, they would fall under the jurisdiction of the California Medical Board and not the CDPH.”

And what of Burts, the now-retired porn star whose story ignited this flame?

“He’s doing fine and is getting medical care,” said Chase.