The State has an expansive package of stories on AIDS in South Carolina. One today includes the tale of Dr. Robert Ball, a Charleston physician who identified South Carolina’s first case of AIDS back in 1982.
A young man covered with drug-resistant herpes sores — on his mouth, his skin, his genitals, his anus — visited Ball’s office in Charleston.
His treatment of AIDS patients led to the eventual decimation of his business.
Soon a third left his care, afraid to share a waiting room with those who had HIV/AIDS.
By 1987, Ball was working 100 hours a week but netting only $18,000 for the practice — insurance companies refused to pay many of his patients’ claims, and Ball still had to pay his staff.
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