Nine years of HIV treatment, but no HIV: A lawsuit about misdiagnosis

Testimony has begun in a lawsuit brought by a Fitchburg, Massachusetts woman who received nine years of HIV treatment after being misdiagnosed with the virus. Audrey Serrano is seeking unspecified damages from several doctors and clinics that were involved in her treatment.

One of those doctors told a Worcester Superior Court jury Tuesday she began treating Audrey in 1994, about 18 months after another doctor had diagnosed her with HIV. The doctor testified she had no reason to question the original diagnosis because Audrey convinced her she had the virus that causes AIDS.

Audrey claims in her suit that she suffered a variety of physical ailments because of AZT and other harsh medicines she took daily because of the diagnosis. She says the emotional distress led to depression.

Advice to those receiving a diagnosis based on a lab test for a dread disease: Verify the diagnosis. Many lab tests have high false-positive rates.

Browse for similar stories in our index at the very bottom of this page, or read another false positive story.

Thanks to the Associated Press for the source story on Dec. 4.

When you hear a bad prognosis: Dire diagnoses

Jessie Gruman knows all too well what it’s like to hear bad health news: first at age 20 with a diagnosis of Hodgkin’s Disease, ten years later with cervical cancer, five years ago with a potentially fatal infection of the heart’s lining (viral pericarditis), and three years ago with colon cancer.

Based on her hard-won lessons on survival, she has written Aftershock: What to Do when the Doctor Gives You – or Someone You Love – a Devastating Diagnosis.

Advice to newly diagnosed people: Read her book.

Read one of our survivor stories, or read more from Jane Brody’s column in the New York Times on July 3.