Isn't part of the issue in this case the mother's alliance with several
"marginal" researchers (not sure how to describe them) who claim that HIV
is not related to AIDS and that none of the research on HIV-AIDS link is
valid?  This is a rather unorthodox position to take, and probably makes
the mother look like a fool to many people involved.

These recent posts bring up many interesting issues that medical ethicists
have grappled with for years -- where do the parents' rights to control the
medical care of their children end and when should the state step in to
protect the baby (cases such as parents refusing antibiotics for
serious/fatal bacterial infections, or refusing blood transfusions due to
religious beliefs, or the mother refusing AZT treatment for her son who is
HIV+ and whose daughter has already died of AIDS; and cases such as Baby
Doe where the parents withheld food and water (in the NICU) until the baby
died, because the baby had Down Syndrome).

Same with "practicing medicine" -- who can define what constitutes
practicing medicine??  Here in Texas, the state's lawyers are trying to
outlaw software that allows people to prepare wills and the paperwork for
divorces without hiring a lawyer, saying it allows people to "practice law"
without a license.


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Katherine A. Dettwyler, Ph.D.                         email:
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Anthropology Department                               phone: (409) 845-5256
Texas A&M University                                    fax: (409) 845-4070
College Station, TX  77843-4352
http://www.prairienet.org/laleche/dettwyler.html