Christine Maggiore - Eliza Jane

Eliza Jane

Christine 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 youngest daughter, Eliza Jane, was never tested for HIV, nor did she or her older brother Charlie receive any of the recommended childhood vaccines. Maggiore later reported Charlie to have tested HIV-negative three times, and asserted that both were in good health.

In April 2005, Eliza Jane became ill with a runny nose. She was seen by two physicians, one of whom reportedly knew of Maggiore's HIV status. Eliza Jane was not tested for HIV, and was diagnosed with pneumonia. 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, who claimed Eliza Jane appeared to be only mildly ill, and prescribed her amoxicillin for a presumed ear infection. On May 16, 2005, Eliza Jane collapsed and stopped breathing. She was rushed to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys, California, where, after failed attempts to revive her, she was pronounced dead.

An autopsy revealed that Eliza Jane was markedly underweight and underheight, consistent with a chronic illness, exhibited a pronounced atrophy of her thymus and other lymphatic organs, and that her lungs were infected 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. The coroner concluded unequivocally that Eliza Jane had died of Pneumocystis pneumonia in the setting of advanced AIDS.

Maggiore rejected the coroner's conclusion, ascribing it to political bias and attacking the personal credibility of the senior coroner, James Ribe. Maggiore had the autopsy reviewed by AIDS denialist Mohammed Al-Bayati, who holds a Ph.D. in animal disease pathology, but is not a medical doctor, nor board-certified in human pathology. Al-Bayati concluded Eliza Jane died from an allergic reaction to amoxicillin, a conclusion Maggiore embraced.

Al-Bayati's report has been dismissed as both biased and medically unsound by independent pathology experts who agreed with the coroner's conclusion.