Christine Maggiore, prominent HIV skeptic, dead at 52

Christine Maggiore, a Van Nuys woman who garnered national attention as an outspoken skeptic of the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV,  has died, according to the L.A. County coroner's office.

Maggiore, 52, was founder of Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, a nonprofit that challenges "common assumptions" about AIDS. Her group's website and toll-free hotline cater to expectant HIV-positive mothers who shun AIDS medications, want to breast-feed their babies and seek to meet others of like mind. She also had written a book on the subject, titled "What if Everything You Thought You Knew About AIDS Was Wrong?"

In 2006, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office decided not to file criminal charges against Maggiore, whose daughter died the year before in  what the county coroner ruled was AIDS-related pneumonia.

Los Angeles police had been investigating whether Maggiore and her husband, Robin Scovill, were negligent in not testing or treating Eliza Jane Scovill for the human immunodeficiency virus before her May 2005 death.

Maggiore had said that she did not take antiviral medications during her pregnancy and that she did not have her daughter tested for the virus after birth.

In a message on the Alive & Well website, Maggiore explained her own story and how she became an activist. "Through Alive & Well and my book, I hope to share vital facts, inspire essential dialogue and give other people who test HIV -positive the chance to consider a destiny that differs from the one we are taught to expect," she wrote.

-- Anna Gorman

More Times coverage on Maggiore:

-- A Mother's Denial, a Daughter's Death

-- HIV skeptic takes story to TV

Photo: www.ejlovetour.com

Comments

[MM]

If you believe the claptrap written on the website for Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives, she certainly couldn't have died of anything AIDS-related, so--what--she got hit by a bus? Ignorance, denial, and stupidity in the face of overwhelming fact just never cease to amaze me.

[Big Jim Slade]

What's that river in Egypt called again? Nice lady, but dead wrong.

[Shaun]

Irony. Christine Maggiore meet Mr. Charles Darwin. Alive and Well... Reason 1 Doubters 0

[David]

It is truly unfortunate, but not surprising, that a person with strong idealogical convictions makes a case for philosophy over facts. There is no medical conspiracy --- HIV kills people unless they are treated (and even then, nothing is guaranteed). Her beliefs led to her child's death and her own.

[MJ]

Now that this crazy lady has actually died of AIDS, I hope that her ridiculous organization will stop telling lies about how AIDS is caused. Maybe this will wake them up and they'll take their heads out of the sand (or out of elsewhere) to realize that HIV really does cause AIDS and yes, AIDS kills. This misguided lady who lived in denial for years could've lived a much longer life (in denial or otherwise), and her child Eliza who died at age 3 of AIDS could've lived much, much longer but her own parents refused to protect her by refusing to believe in reality and instead believed in a fantasy world where witch doctors and organic foods cure all. Please ask Eliza about how organic foods cured her AIDS. Oh wait, I think maybe Eliza died at age 3 from AIDS. Guess they don't work all that well, do they? It looks like reality finally caught up with Eliza's mom and now she's 6 feet under but at least she's under the real world. I only hope the damage she's done by spreading disinformation can be fixed, though I doubt it. Denial is a powerful force but it looks like death is even stronger. Think her organization will change their name to "Dead and Gone" now? Nah, probably not.

[George in Miami]

I am sorry for any human's death, but how many others, including her own daughter, perished because this woman perseverated in the delusion that HIV is not related to AIDS.

[Roy]

She paid the ultimate price for ignorance.

[Martha Fowler]

Any information about cause of death?

[JT]

From a 2005 article after her daughter's death from AIDS-related pneumonia:

"She has stayed healthy, she said, despite a cervical condition three years ago that would qualify her for an AIDS diagnosis. In a 2002 article for Awareness magazine, she facetiously refers to it as "my bout of so-called AIDS," saying it coincided "perfectly with the orthodox axiom that we get a decade of normal health before our AIDS kicks in."

She refused medications and she's dead. I chose to take medication and I'm alive, feeling great and working.

JT

[djk]

you were wrong - I will pray forr you

[Sadun Kal]

Ow... That's rather shocking. But so little info? What happened?

[Evon]

This goes beyond naturopathic cures and holistic medicine. This is pure, sheer denial, that probably cost mother and daughter their lives.

[Sadun Kal]

It appears that the cause of dead is not yet known, or even if it's really true. Why don't you state that clearly? People can easily get the impression that it was related to "HIV/AIDS" the way this story is presented. Journalists should be careful when touching such sensitive, important issues. Tell the whole story if you know more than what's told by the coroner's office. Be careful and more responsible please.

[Mark Conlan]

The world has lost a powerful, dedicated, courageous activist and I have lost a good friend. I remain convinced that what we've been propagandized to believe about HIV and AIDS is nonsense and someday we will be vindicated. A pity Christine won't be around to see it.

[a friend]

damn, this is going to be interesting, but first and foremost a tremendous shock and shame

[Elizabeth Ely]

FROM "RETHINKING AIDS"

As public relations chairperson for "Rethinking AIDS," the scientific group in which Christine Maggiore played a vital role, I would like to express our deep sorrow at her passing. We welcome all inquiries, from reporters and readers alike. We openly accept all questions and answer honestly, referring questions to scientists when necessary. Our president, David Crowe, is releasing a statement soon.

We wish it to be known that Christine's HIV status was not a factor in her death, nor could it have been. She tested positive in 1992 but subsequently had several contradictory test results, a fact which she made public. I personally hope that this story will be handled with the rationality that Christine herself stood for, with sensitivity to her husband and son.

You may visit our Web site at www.rethinkingaids.com to look for updates, and/or contact me at publicrelations@rethinkingaids.com.

I trust that your inquiries will be respectful and earnest. Thank you.

Elizabeth Ely
Public Relations Chairperson
Rethinking AIDS

[Foolfighter]

The AIDS denialists are already in feverish overdrive, desperately trying to attribute Christine's death to anything except her untreated HIV infection. We saw the same with her daughter, EJ, who died from pneumocystis pneumonia and HIV encephalopathy. Just an antibiotic allergy, they claimed.

The prime candidate to explain her demise is the theory that she has been under huge stress since her daughter died, and there has been the threat of a negligence claim hanging over her head until last year. I have news for these denialists. Every day hundreds of people lose close family to illness, or have stressful lives. But they do not succumb to lingering pneumonias, like Christine has. Every day, hundreds of patients with HIV choose life and embrace the treatments on offer.

[Carol Beaman]

Very sad news. Ms. Maggiore was a courageous lady, very honorable, very principled. She provided a good counter-balance to a lot of medical/pharma propoganda designed to scare people and sell drugs.

[EMM]

With the death of each AIDS denialist, the remaining head-in-the-sanders trot out a new variation on their tired old cause-of-death explanations: "gay lifestyle," excessive drug use, loneliness, and stress. For Maggiore, the latest, their refrain shifts between stress and overly aggressive complementary medicine treatments. Of course, healthy middle-aged women do not die of pneumonia in Los Angeles, but, hey, when you're into denial, the only person you have to convince is yourself.
That's why, sadly, Maggiore's death won't make any difference to other deniers living with AIDS. They'll keep trotting towards the cliff's edge with their blinders firmly in place.

[MBB]

Christine was an adult, and she made her choice. It was her daughter's death that was truly tragic. The poor little girl was just a victim.

[jeanneo2]

I have no clue if any of you really feel a loss of a wonderful Mom , and beautiful daughter, I find it so sad, I cannot feel any other emotion.......Christine, was amazing and Eliza Jane just beautiful.. I feel very sorry, and at loss to have lost two very wonderful people ......Jeanne. My deepest sympathy to Robin and his son, I cannot even imagine baring such a loss. Jeanne

[Seth Kalichman]

The death of Christine Maggiore is tragic just as her life was tragic.

She was mislead by Peter Duesberg and David Rasnick and other AIDS Denialists. Ultimately she promoted their pseudoscience at her own peril. Many others were harmed by her relentless promoting of false information that confused people about HIV testing and treatment.

We should respect the decision of an informed person to refuse treatment for any serious medical condition. But the problem with AIDS denialism is that people are making testing and treatment decisions based on misinformation and disinformation spread by AIDS pseudoscientists and conspiracy theorists.

The sad story of AIDS denialism that enmeshed Christine Maggiore is told in a new book Denying AIDS: Conspiracy Theories, Pseudoscience, and Human Tragedy (all Royalties donated to buy HIV medications in Africa) for more information visit http://denyingaids.blogspot.com/

[Hanna]

Christine Maggiore directly caused the death of her 3 year old daughter from PCP pneumonia by sheer neglect.

Christine Maggiore has also caused the lives of thousands of HIV positive individuals in South Africa and world wide with her BS rhetoric and manipulation of valid scientific studies and simple facts.

The world is a much better place without her in it.

Aside which, imagine the rock and a hard place she found herself in when facing such a dire illness in the end - when it became patently clear that HIV wasn't harmless at all. When she couldn't escape the reality that despite her organic living, meditation and the joy her family brought to her life she was met with immune collapse.

She wasn't jailed for murdering her daughter but you know what? Her punishment couldn't have been sweeter or more poetic. She could have taken the meds in the end and granted herself the gift of life but at a high cost - the acknowledgment that she denied that same gift of life to her own baby girl.

[Sadun Kal]

People, inform yourselves from all available sources if you don't want to risk judging others wrongly. Misjudging others is not only hurtful to those you misjudge, it might as well be misleading for you, might make you arrive at wrong conclusions and make wrong decisions. At least try to learn to respect informed decisions instead of decisions made purely on blindly trusting authorities. Get to know the authorities and you may also change your mind...

[Peter]

If people here are "wiser" than they think they are they would've read the autopsy report of the coroner as well as some of the intriguing facts behind it. Try reading Dr Al Bayati's diagnosis and you'll know why.

Of course you'll say "Al-Bayati is Chrsitine's friend and an AIDS skeptic" but so what? People believe Gallo even if everybody in the world knew that he made last minute changes to his report to "prove" that they indeed had found HIV. Crazy.

Again, you people are too fast to make a conclusion. What if the lawsuit of the late Christine and her husband against the coroner succeeds? Will you guys bury yourselves in the sand?

Think, investigate before forming your own opinions. DO NOT JUST TAKE WHAT "EXPERTS" TELL YOU. You'll never know who's under the pay of these pharma companies.

Oh btw, Dr Gallo already had a test kit a few days after his "great discovery". Then as we all know France and the US governments agreed to split the royalty out of the infamous ELISA tests. tsk tsk.