Mass. woman sues over HIV misdiagnosis

A Fitchburg, Mass., woman who received nine years of antiretroviral drug treatments after being misdiagnosed with HIV infection is suing the health care providers who treated her. The Family Practice Clinic--now called All Family Care--in Fitchburg diagnosed Audrey Serrano, 41, with HIV infection in 1994, but six subsequent tests since fall 2003 show she does not have the virus. The lawsuit, filed December 29 in Worcester superior court, seeks unspecified damages. Serrano claims to have suffered numerous physical ailments--including colitis, an inflammation of the intestine--because of the AZT and other harsh anti-HIV medicines she took daily for HIV treatment. She also claims her health care providers failed to retest her to determine the accuracy of the initial HIV antibody test.