SHERMAN OAKS, Calif.—Rumors are swirling around Porn Valley that AIM Medical Associates has permanently shut its doors, despite the clinic’s statement that it’s only a temporary closure due to remodeling.
AVN cannot confirm the future status of the clinic, despite an AIM statement to other media that it will re-open in a full capacity at the end of the month, because we have received contradictory information from clinic officials.
One thing is clear: AIM’s office on Van Nuys Boulevard in Sherman Oaks currently is closed for new testing services; however, its satellite draw stations remain open at this time, talent can still receive their test results by email, and AIM’s office number is active for performers to receive test results and for questions.
Regardless of AIM’s operational status, the now-private company is without doubt in deep trouble and has been for quite some time. AIM has been fighting legal battles on numerous fronts that have severely hampered its operation and put the company into crippling debt.
For example, AIM is still a named defendant in a lawsuit by 2009's "Patient Zero" as that person attempts to prevent Cal/OSHA from obtaining his/her private medical records, and is also defending aginst the suit filed by former performers Desi and Elli Foxx (who are being represented pro bono by AIDS Healthcare Foundation attorney Brian Chase) for alleged violations of medical privacy laws.
AIM also has been a central figure in the hearings held by CalOSHA regarding a petition by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to change the California Health Code to specifically require adult moviemakers to force their performers to use "barrier protection" when acting in sex scenes. Expenses associated with that fight include the hiring of an HIV expert, Dr. Aaron Aronow, as well as an outside health expert to challenge the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health's incorrect figures regarding the outbreaks of various STDs within the industry. None of that comes cheap.
In addition to its steadily climbing legal bills, the security of the clinic’s database has come under fire recently when a rogue website posted the real names and personal information of thousands of adult performers, much of it believed to have come from a hack of the secure AIM database.
AIM issued a statement saying that it was conducting an investigation into the matter, which is still ongoing, and that "there is preliminary information indicating that criminal behavior by persons or entities may have occurred" by accessing the database improperly.
As if that was not enough, the clinic is under increasing pressure from AHF, which has made complaints about AIM's testing and medical confidentiality protocols to several state and federal government agencies.
Could all these battles finally register a killshot to AIM’s future operation? It seems increasingly likely, but the picture painted isn’t a pretty one despite AIM’s continuing to operate, albeit at a dimished capacity.
For adult talent seeking other testing options, Talent Testing Services offers the HIV PCR-DNA test along with comprehensive tests for other STIs in addition to other services at its facility in Northridge, located at 8444 Reseda Boulevard, Suite A.
