A woman who received HIV treatments for nine years before learning she didn't have the virus has won $2.5 million in damages in a civil suit. During that period, Audrey Serrano had been treated by Dr. Kwan Lai at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center's HIV clinic. During that period, she was debilitated by the side effects of the drugs she took, suffering depression, chronic fatigue, weight and appetite loss and inflammation of her intestine, Serrano said. During the trial, Dr. Lai testified that Serrano had said she worked as a prostitute, that her partner had AIDS and that she'd had three episodes of Pneumocystis pneumonia, which, when added to other medical data, prompted her to continue with HIV treatment. But in her suit, Serrano asserted that Lai should have re-tested for HIV when monitoring of her treatment didn't show the presence of HIV in her blood.
To find out more about the suit:
- read this Associated Press piece
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