Kimberly Bergalis, who caused a national stir when she stepped forward to say she had contracted AIDS from her dentist, died at home with her family. Her father said her death means "the virus, politicians and public health officials can't do her any more harm."
Though visibly in pain, Bergalis went before television cameras in October to argue for mandatory testing of health-care workers and patients before invasive procedures, a position opposed by AIDS activists, the American Medical Association and the American Dental Association."I did not do any anything wrong, yet I am being made to suffer like this," she told Congress.
Bergalis died at her family's home in Fort Pierce, a coastal town 100 miles north of Miami. She was 23.
Her parents, George and Anna, said she had no longer been able to eat or speak and was having trouble breathing. As they put her to bed Saturday night, they told her that perhaps it was time to stop fighting.
"My wife said, `We want you to go to sleep, get a peaceful rest and think about whether you want to face all this suffering and torment again tomorrow,' " George Bergalis said.
"I think she had been ready to die for quite some time, but she was worried about whether her mom and sisters and I were ready to accept it," he added.
Kimberly Bergalis shocked the nation in September 1990 when she came forward to say she was "patient A," the first known U.S. case of a patient who contracted AIDS during a medical procedure.
"The world has lost a great deal, but the world will never, ever forget how brave and how caring and how determined that lady was," said Barbara Webb, a retired English teacher who is among four others also infected by the late Dr. David Acer.