Re: Woman misdiagnosed with HIV gets $2.5M

[Guest guest]

I had seen this on CNN few days ago, and I couldn't believe it.

How is it possible then in 9 years this woman did not get 1 blood test for viral

load or

an HIV geno type test?

I am glad her nightmare is over, we all wish we were in her shoes right now.

shaz

>

> Woman misdiagnosed with HIV gets $2.5M

>

> By RODRIQUE NGOWI, Associated Press Writer Thu Dec 13, 12:54 AM ET

>

> BOSTON - A jury awarded $2.5 million in damages Wednesday to a woman

> who received HIV treatments for almost nine years before discovering

> she never actually had the virus that causes AIDS.

>

> In her lawsuit against a doctor who treated her, Audrey Serrano said

> the powerful combination of drugs she took triggered a string of

> ailments, including depression, chronic fatigue, loss of weight and

> appetite and inflammation of the intestine.

>

> Serrano, 45, said she cried after hearing the verdict in Worcester

> Superior Court and was gratified that the jury believed her.

>

> " I'm going to finish my school and I am going to continue to help

> others, " Serrano said in a telephone interview from her Fitchburg

> home. " I am going to find another doctor that will help me. "

>

> Serrano's attorney, Angueira, said Dr. Kwan Lai, who treated his

> client at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in

> Worcester's HIV clinic, repeatedly failed to order definitive tests

> even after monitoring of Serrano's treatment did not show the presence

> of HIV in her blood.

>

> " It is one of the clearest cases of misdiagnosis that I have ever seen

> and it's based in part on a presumption that people who engage in

> certain types of conduct are more likely to have HIV and AIDS than

> other people without really listening to the patient, " Angueira said

> after the verdict.

>

> Lai testified last week that Serrano told her she had worked as a

> prostitute, her partner had AIDS, and that she had suffered three

> bouts of a type of pneumonia typically associated with those infected

> by the virus.

>

> Serrano has denied she had ever been a prostitute. She confirmed that

> her former boyfriend tested positive for HIV/AIDS, but disputed the

> claim that she told the doctor that she had suffered bouts of

> Pneumocystis pneumonia.

>

> Lai's attorney, Joannie Gulliford Hoban, did not return a call for

> comment Wednesday night.

>

> Lai testified that she had no reason to question Serrano's original

> diagnosis at another clinic because Serrano convinced her she had HIV

> when she took her personal history, and her blood had abnormal amounts

> of cells used to fight infections.

>

> Hoban argued during the trial that Lai had provided standard care to

> Serrano.

>

> " Audrey's case clearly demonstrates how inadequate that procedure

> was, " Angueira said. He said his client " is responsible for changing

> thousands of lives in the future. "

>

> The medical center, which was not named in the lawsuit, did not

> immediately return a message for comment Wednesday night. The

> institution has denied wrongdoing in the case.

>

> The jury reached its verdict after two days of deliberations,

> Serrano's attorney said. He said the damages could total about $3.7

> million including prejudgment interest.

>

> Serrano filed the lawsuit in 2003 after she became suspicious of her

> diagnosis and had herself tested at another hospital.

>

> ___

>

> Associated Press writer Sylvia Lee Wingfield contributed to this report.

>

> http://news./s/ap/20071213/ap_on_he_me/hiv_lawsuit

>