Letter submitted to the Toronto Sun regarding Death sentence lifted To the Editor, Having lived for 16 years with an HIV-positive diagnosis myself, I read with great interest Michele Mandel's article "Death sentence lifted" (May 27), the story of how Peter Castle's 16 years spent diagnosed "HIV-positive" turned out to have "been a mistake". The account of social isolation, devastating depression and disabling medications is often the experience of anyone labeled "HIV-positive". In my case, doubts about the validity of the diagnosis -- by my own conclusion rather than official -- have led me to refuse all "anti-HIV" drugs and continue to expect health. I am shocked that Robert Trow of the Hassle Free Clinic claims that Mr. Castle's false-positive is the first he has ever heard of. A quick review of the medical literature reveals that although the frequency of false-positive results is unknown, laws of probability predict that HIV tests will result in as many false positives as true positives. Evidently HALCO HIV legal clinic lawyer Doug Elliot is equally ill informed if he believes that Mr. Castle's case is "the first case in the world if it's happened". The AIDS Litigation Project reports at least 15 cases where patients who have been incorrectly informed that they are HIV-infected have filed suit against their health care providers for negligent infliction of emotional distress. Considering the lifelong implications of a positive HIV test result, doctors should be aware of the limitations of tests for HIV. Robert Johnston HEAL Toronto --------------- For the fact checker: False-Positive HIV-1 Test Results in a Low-Risk Screening Setting of Voluntary Blood Donation Journal of the American Medical Association Vol. 280, pp. 1080-1085, Sep. 23/30, 1998 Abstract Context: Persons at risk of human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection have been classified incorrectly as HIV infected because of Western blot results, but the frequency of false-positive Western blot results is unknown. http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/library/scan/sep98/sep98a.htm "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that the two tests used to identify HIV - the ELISA and the Western blot (WB) - used in combination, have a better than 99% accuracy rate, but only if they are performed repeatedly. (The exact rate is unknown and the CDC states that it has no data on just how many false positives versus false negatives occur!) […] The CDC estimates that 0.6% of Americans are HIV-positive. […]Using the CDC estimate that 0.6% of Americans are HIV-positive, in a population of 10,000, 60 Americans would test positive! This 60 must include all the false positives, 30, leaving only 30 people actually infected. This leads to the following conclusion: using a 99% accuracy, one finds as many false positives as true positives. Even if the results of both AIDS tests, the ELISA and WB, are positive, the chances are only 50-50 that the individual is infected." Source: AIDS Update 1999 by Gerald J. Stine Ph.D. University of North Florida, Jacksonville. (for the full argument: http://healtoronto.com/stine_hivtests.html ) The AIDS Litigation Project HIV/AIDS in the Courts in the 1990s Lawrence O. Gostin, JD, LLD, and David W. Webber, JD AIDS & Public Policy Journal Vol. 13, No. 1, Spring 1998 VI. TORT ACTIONS False Diagnosis of HIV Infection Patients who have been incorrectly informed that they are HIV-infected have filed suit against their health care providers for negligent infliction of emotional distress [217 ,218 ,219 ,220 ,221 ,222 ,223 ,224 ,225 ,226 ,227 ,228 ,229 ,230 ]. Some of these plaintiffs have argued that an HIV-positive diagnosis is a "death sentence" that inflicts extreme psychological harm. Courts have been divided in their approach to these cases. To ensure that a real injury exists, some courts have refused to allow the plaintiff to recover damages unless the mental distress arose from or led to a physical injury. For example, courts have held that increased blood pressure is not an adequate injury, but that harmful side effects of AIDS treatments or a patient's attempt at suicide would suffice to justify liability [217,219,225]. Some courts have not imposed the physical injury requirement [218]. http://www.ama-assn.org/special/hiv/library/readroom/other98/alp1.htm#tort
 TORONTO
tel/fax:(416) 406-HEAL
INDEX
Search our web site (400+ pages)
|
