Woman Misdiagnosed With HIV Gets $2.5 M

[Squirt]

BOSTON (AP) - A jury awarded $2.5 million in damages 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 Wednesday 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, David 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. SOURCE

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Is it just me or does this seem like a pittance for what she went through? I mean NINE years of pill popping and prodding along with all the side effects of the medication, not to mention the emotional turmoil.

[basschick]

yes, it seems like a pittance - especially considering that her attorney will get up to half, and definitely more than a third, and the doctors who discovered the misdiagnosis and might be treating her for any related issues will get a chunk, as well.

had the doctor's insurance company not forced the case to go to court, more of the money would have gone to Audrey Serrano rather than to the lawyer. i suspect they felt she had no resources and hoped she wouldn't find a lawyer to take it to court.

i reaize that corporations and many doctors don't really care about people's lives, but i wonder how they would like to spend 9 years thinking that they'd die of a disease and being treated for it in ways that makes them have lots of unpleasant symptoms. you can bet your ass they'd have gone for more than 2.5 mill. of course, they can afford quality doctors and their lifestyle wouldn't prejudice those docrors, so the question is probably moot.

[wildwildwest]

yes, it seems like a pittance - especially considering that her attorney will get up to half, and definitely more than a third, and the doctors who discovered the misdiagnosis and might be treating her for any related issues will get a chunk...

And my uncle, himself an attorney, wonders why people consider lawyers to be greedy, evil bastards...

[prtmteresa]

I donated eggs to an infertile couple about a year ago, and every time I went to the fertility clinic to have blood drawn they tested it for HIV/AIDS. That added up to about 20 times in a 6 week period. So am I to understand that this woman went in for treatment for AIDS and no one double checked her diagnosis or even checked her progression? Don't they say you should be rechecked if you get a positive diagnosis? I'm so confused...

[Lazer]

i think it is a pittance. but how much would really be enough? $5, 10 million? in my opinion, you can't put a price on what happened to this woman because no amount of money is going to give her back the time and agony spent over this.....