31.   Those states, with the largest AIDS caseloads in the nation, have vastly increased their contributions to the AIDS Drug Assistance Program to cover all poor patients.

32.   Though hospitals like Presbyterian serve many poor patients, none of these mega-mergers include the small, local hospitals that treat primarily low-income people.

33.   To fill beds, many are actively courting poor patients covered by Medicaid.

34.   Volberding said physicians who specialize in AIDS treatment cost more than those who have little or no AIDS background and are less accessible to poor patients.

35.   Under the DSH program, states receive extra Medicaid money to be disbursed to public and private hospitals that serve high numbers of poor patients.

36.   Yet the programs offered, for many poor patients, a luxurious level of medical care and the chance to try promising drugs.

37.   A federal appeals court has refused to revive a lawsuit by hospitals seeking reimbursement from tobacco companies after they treated poor patients with smoking-related illnesses.

38.   A white anesthesiologist accused of experimenting on poor black patients won a legal battle Friday to appeal his conviction for professional misconduct in two deaths.

39.   A white doctor accused of experimenting on poor black patients sat emotionless Monday as a judge began reciting a lengthy assessment of the case.

40.   As this APTV special report shows, hundreds of poor patients with blood disorders are left without treatment.