Los Angeles – Christine Maggiore was in prime form, engaging and articulate, when she explained to a Phoenix radio host in late March why she didn’t believe HIV caused AIDS.
The HIV-positive mother of two laid out matter-of-factly why, even while pregnant, she hadn’t taken HIV medications and why she had never tested her children for the virus.
“Our children have excellent records of health,” Maggiore said on the “Air America” program when asked about 7-year- old Charlie and 3-year-old Eliza Jane Scovill. “They’ve never had respiratory problems, flus, intractable colds, ear infections, nothing. So, our choices, however radical they may seem, are extremely well-founded.”
Seven weeks later, Eliza Jane was dead.
The cause, according to a Sept. 15 report by the Los Angeles County coroner, was AIDS-related pneumonia.
These days, given advances in HIV care, it’s highly unusual for any young child to die of AIDS. What makes Eliza Jane’s death even more striking is that her mother is a high-profile, charismatic leader in a movement that challenges the basic medical understanding and treatment of AIDS.
Maggiore and her husband, Robin Scovill, said they have concerns about the coroner’s findings and are sending the report to an outside reviewer.
“This was a preventable death,” said Dr. James Oleske, who has treated hundreds of HIV-positive children. “I can tell you without any doubt that, at the outset of her illness, if she was appropriately evaluated, she would have been appropriately treated. She would not have died. You can’t write a more sad and tragic story.”
