Death of Eliza Jane Scovill

In 1992, Eliza Jane's mother, Christine Maggiore, tested positive for HIV.

She subsequently became involved in volunteer work for a number of AIDS charities, including AIDS Project Los Angeles, L.A. Shanti, and Women at Risk.

However, following an interaction with prominent AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg in 1994, she began to question whether HIV causes AIDS.

Maggiore came to believe that her positive test may have been due to flu shots, pregnancy, or a common viral infection.

Maggiore chose not to take antiretroviral drugs or other measures which reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission of HIV during her pregnancies.

Maggiore also breast-fed her children, despite evidence that breast-feeding can also transmit HIV from mother to child.

Her younger child, Eliza Jane, was never tested for HIV, nor did she or her older brother Charlie receive any of the recommended childhood vaccines.

Eliza Jane Scovill (December 3, 2001 – May 16, 2005) was the daughter of AIDS denialist Christine Maggiore, an HIV-positive activist who publicly questioned the link between HIV and AIDS, and supported HIV-positive pregnant women who want to avoid taking anti-HIV medication.

Eliza Jane's May 16, 2005 death from AIDS, at the age of three and a half, sparked a social and legal controversy over her mother's decision not to take precautions during pregnancy and breastfeeding to prevent transmission of the virus, and her parents' decision to not have her treated for HIV infection during her life.

(Maggiore later reported Charlie to have tested HIV-negative three times.) Maggiore discussed her beliefs as an AIDS dissident on Air America Radio in March 2005, stating that "...our children have excellent records of health. They've never had respiratory problems, flus, intractable colds, ear infections, nothing. So, our choices, however radical they may seem, are extremely well-founded."

Several weeks after this interview, in April 2005, Eliza Jane became ill with a runny nose.

She was seen by a physician from the family's pediatric practice, who documented a normal physical exam.

Several days later, Maggiore took Eliza Jane to see another pediatrician, Jay Gordon, who felt she had a mild ear infection.

Reportedly, Gordon was aware of Maggiore's HIV status, but did not have Eliza Jane tested for HIV.

According to the hospital report, filed just after Eliza Jane's death and based upon an interview with Maggiore, Eliza Jane "had been diagnosed with pneumonia" in the weeks preceding her death.

When Eliza Jane failed to improve, Maggiore took her to see Philip Incao, a holistic practitioner and board member of Maggiore's AIDS-denialist organization Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives.

Incao stated that Eliza Jane appeared "mildly ill... no way I considered her in danger... she did not act as a patient acts if she's severely ill or in danger."

On May 14, 2005, Incao prescribed amoxicillin for a presumed ear infection.

The following day, Eliza Jane became lethargic and vomited several times.

While Maggiore was on the phone with Incao, Eliza Jane collapsed and stopped breathing.

She was rushed by ambulance to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California.

Physicians attempted to resuscitate Eliza Jane, but were unsuccessful.

According to the hospital report, a "chest x-ray revealed pneumonia," and Eliza Jane was pronounced dead at 5:40 AM on May 16, 2005.

An autopsy was performed.

The senior deputy medical examiner for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office found that Eliza Jane was markedly underweight and underheight, consistent with a chronic illness, and that she had pronounced atrophy of her thymus and other lymphatic organs.

Examination of her lungs showed infection with Pneumocystis jirovecii, a common opportunistic pathogen in people with AIDS and the leading cause of pediatric AIDS deaths.

The post-mortem examination of Eliza Jane's brain showed changes consistent with HIV encephalitis; protein components of HIV itself were identified in Eliza Jane's brain tissue via immunohistochemistry.

Based on the clinical information, the immunohistochemical documentation of HIV in Eliza Jane's brain, the evidence of pronounced immunosuppression, and the isolation of the opportunistic pathogen Pneumocystis jirovecii from Eliza Jane's lungs, the coroner concluded that Eliza Jane had died of Pneumocystis pneumonia in the setting of advanced AIDS.

This conclusion was described by the coroner as "unequivocal".

Maggiore rejected the coroner's conclusion, ascribing it to political bias and attacking the personal credibility of the senior coroner, James Ribe.

Maggiore retained a board member of the organization she founded named Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, toxicologist Mohammed Al-Bayati, to review the autopsy report.

Al-Bayati holds a B.S. in veterinary medicine from the University of Baghdad, an M.S. from the University of Cairo, and a Ph.D. in comparative pathology from UC Davis.

He is a pseudoscientist.

He is not a physician nor is he board-certified in human pathology.

He is the author of a book entitled Get All The Facts: HIV Does Not Cause AIDS.

Al-Bayati released a report concluding that Eliza Jane had not died from AIDS or pneumocystis pneumonia, but from an allergic reaction to amoxicillin.

Maggiore embraced Al-Bayati's conclusion that a reaction to amoxicillin was responsible, stating, "I believe the unfortunate irony in this situation is that the one time that we were asked to and that we complied with mainstream medicine, we inadvertently gave our daughter something that took her life."

Al-Bayati's report has been dismissed as both biased and medically unsound.

Both the Los Angeles Times and ABC PrimeTime Live consulted independent experts in pathology about Eliza Jane's case; these experts agreed unequivocally with the coroner's conclusion that AIDS and resultant Pneumocystis pneumonia were the cause of death, and rejected Al-Bayati's report.

Following Eliza Jane Scovill's death, Maggiore's beliefs and advocacy became points of controversy.