Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Suddenly, patients of the Pulaski County dentist were canceling appointments with no explanation.
Vlahos came into the office early Tuesday, July26, to do some paperwork before opening at noon.
``At 12, a lady called, very upset, and wanted to talk to me,'' Vlahos said. ``I went to the phone, and she just came out and asked if me if I had AIDS, and I said, `No ma'am, it's not true.'''
Vlahos, who has practiced dentistry in Pulaski County for 13 years and lived there for 40 years, learned the woman had seen a memo saying he had AIDS.
The memo, purportedly written by six employees at Montgomery Regional Hospital who said they no longer could remain silent, was a fraud. Vlahos never has been a patient at the hospital and has not tested positive for AIDS.
Vlahos has evening office hours on Tuesdays.
"By 5 p.m., all my night patients had canceled," he said.
The next day, "a lot of people were just not showing up."
Two nights later, a woman whose family had not shown up for appointments the week before called him to ask if he had AIDS.
By that time, Vlahos had a letter from his doctor and results of blood tests that proved he did not have AIDS or HIV, the virus the causes AIDS. He made copies of the doctor's statement available to all his patients.
"That very first week, there was ... in the thousands of dollars in lost income. We don't know what the long-term effects [will be]. This has only been in two weeks," Vlahos said Wednesday in an interview at his office off U.S. 11 near Dublin.
Vlahos moved quickly to end the rumors and the loss of business. He filed a $10 million lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court against Doris Sheppard, an employee at Renfro Corp., alleging that she shared the memo with co-workers. In effect, the lawsuit claimed, she was guilty of publishing the false rumor about the dentist.
Sheppard's lawyer, Jimmy Turk of Radford, said the woman found the memo in her Southwest Times newspaper box. She meant the dentist no harm and was simply sharing it with family and friends out of shock and concern, Turk said.
But Sheppard apparently was not the only person disseminating the memo. Vlahos said copies were found in other people's newspaper boxes, posted at the grocery store just up the road from his practice and even placed in the door at the local middle school.
"I keep on thinking that I'll wake up and this is all a dream," Vlahos said. "Even with the truth, people still believe rumors."
A patient came into the office Wednesday to ask Vlahos for himself, saying he did not believe everything he saw or read in the media.
Vlahos said he knows no reason why someone would target him - or why Sheppard, who was a stranger to Vlahos, would take it on herself to share the memo with others but not confront him directly.
The fraudulent memo also said Vlahos was reluctant to use surgical gloves because of their expense and because it hindered his sense of touch. The memo alleged that he had gotten AIDS from a patient.
"We've been wearing gloves since the early '80s," Vlahos said. "The patients that have known me ... have stated time and time again I've never been in their mouths without gloves on."
Sheriff Ralph Dobbins said the criminal investigation into the memo is difficult now that word of the lawsuit has spread and people are fearful of talking.
"We're trying very diligently to find out who the originator is," Dobbins said Wednesday. "Right now, I don't see that happening."
It appears the writer of the memo was trying to scare the dentist, he said.
It worked.
"I've been scared. I've been scared since day one - not only for myself, but for my children," said Vlahos, who is married and has two young children.
He also was scared for his practice. Vlahos bought property and moved into a new building eight years ago and still is paying off the loan.
He and his wife, Debbie - who works at his office as a hygienist - wonder if the rumor will send them into financial ruin after the years they have invested in their careers.
"It's like I'm part of a freak show now," Vlahos said. Besides being barraged with calls from patients, Vlahos and his staff - his wife and two other full-time workers - are receiving calls from local and national media eager to get his story.
Other dentists and medical professionals have called to offer support.
"They realize it could happen to anybody," Vlahos said.
He called the American Dental Association, which told him there were no reports of this happening to other dentists.
Intentionally slandering someone is a Class 3 misdemeanor, which carries only a fine and no jail time. Vlahos said he plans to work "to see that there is a law enacted to make sure that it is very criminal to do something like this to any professional."
Right now, he is concentrating on assuring all his patients that the memo is false.
The phone is ringing again at his office, but generally people are calling to reschedule appointments or offer support.
"We've gotten a lot of support. Since we made it public, the cancellation rates have turned around."
by CNB