A Daughter's Death,A Mother's Survival - What Really ...

A Daughter’s Death,A Mother’s Survival - Los Angeles CityBeatwon the Special Jury Prize at the AFI Los AngelesInternational Film festival for his documentary TheOther Side of AIDS. (Scovill has been all but erasedfrom media portrayals of the story, which focus insteadon the archetypal Bad Mother.)On May 16, 2005, Eliza Jane’s body was referred to theL.A. County Coroner to determine a cause of death,which was then listed as “unknown.” AIDS had not beenconsidered initially. Maggiore and Scovill did notvolunteer the news that Christine had tested positive, aswell as negative and indeterminate, so the examinersinitially did not see the girl’s body through the lens ofHIV or AIDS. A friend of theirs, Keith Relkin,identifying himself as a student of public policy, calledthe coroner’s office on May 21, and asked if routine HIVtests were administered in cases of unexplained death.Relkin spoke to a male employee who told him thecoroner does not consider routine HIV testing necessarybecause “AIDS is so obvious.” Coroner’s know, or knewbefore this case, that a PCP death caused massivedestruction to the lungs.Nor did the coroner consider, apparently, the possibilityof an antibiotic-related death. The reason for all thisobfuscation is clear to me: The mother is an “AIDSdenialist,” and therefore stands accused of not seeingAIDS. What the medical examiners saw, before theyknew whose daughter they were looking at, was nothing.On May 18, L.A. County medical examiner Dr. Changsricalled and spoke to Scovill, telling him that she hadfound “nothing apparent” as a cause of death, and wouldneed to see what might grow in cultures. Meanwhile, shewould release Eliza Jane to a mortuary.On May 26, an investigator from the coroner’s officecalled Dr. Paul Fleiss, one of Eliza Jane’s pediatricians,and asked if he knew about “the parents,” and “whathappens when you Google the mother’s name.”When Fleiss replied he didn’t think Google searcheswould illuminate what killed Eliza Jane, the womansnapped that she thought Maggiore’s book had“everything to do” with the case. Under threat ofsubpoena, she demanded that Fleiss immediately faxEliza Jane’s medical records to the coroner’s office.In early August, Maggiore started calling the coroner’soffice for any possible information about Eliza Jane’ssecond autopsy. She was told by the coroner’s office thatthe case had been placed on “security hold,” and noinformation was available. A Detective Castillo from theLAPD had ordered the hold; Maggiore was told shecould get no additional information. A few days later,Maggiore called again and asked under whatcircumstances the hold might be lifted. The woman whohttp://www.lacitybeat.com/article.php?id=3887&IssueNum=157 (6 of 11)6/13/2006 12:07:12 PM