China: The High Price Of Mercy

An AIDS-stricken American tourist, stranded in southwestern China for a month, was evacuated last week by a U.S. Air Force plane. The flight ended an impasse caused by the refusal of commercial airlines to take the patient home. Brent Anderson, 38, was flown from the city of Kunming to Clark Air Base in the Philippines aboard a specially equipped Air Force C-9 Nightingale and then on to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton.

Anderson was traveling in China on June 18 when he was stricken with a high fever and taken to a provincial hospital. A blood test showed he had AIDS. Though CAAC, China's flag carrier, agreed to fly Anderson to connecting flights in Shanghai, two U.S. airlines there refused him passage. After Anderson's family deposited $40,000 with the U.S. State Department to pay for the costs, the military flight was arranged.