Wrongful Death: The AIDS Trial
Page 12
Chapter Twelve
“Dr. Peterson, you're familiar with Koch's Postulate Number One, the one that says that you must be able to find the thing you think causes an infectious disease in every case of that disease?”
“Yes, I am, but...”
Messick cuts him off immediately. He wants very specific answers from this hostile witness and nothing else.
“If you would, doctor, please just answer my questions as simply as you can, and not offer any other comments. During the decade from 1987 to 1997, you had a thriving medical practice in San Francisco, is that correct?”
“Yes, it is.”
“And did you have the opportunity in your practice to examine patients diagnosed with AIDS?”
“Yes, I did.”
“About how many?”
“Oh, several thousand, probably.”
“In fact, you were well known at the time for your diagnosis and treatment of AIDS patients, were you not?”
“Yes, I was,” Peterson answered proudly.
“Dr. Peterson, did you look for the virus we now call HIV in all of these AIDS cases that came before you?”
“Well, sort of...” Peterson looks at the Judge, as if begging to continue. Messick doesn’t let him.
“And in how many cases did you find the virus we call HIV?”
“I'm trying to tell you that we don't actually look for the HIV...”
Messick addresses Judge Watts directly. “Your Honor, as you know, most of the witnesses I will be calling to present my case have been subpoenaed, rather than volunteering to testify for the plaintiffs. Mr. Crawley was right in his opening statement that many of them are witnesses he might have called, thinking they would support his own case. Until Dr. Peterson, it has not been necessary to treat them as hostile witnesses, and I hope I do not have to request this very many times. However, I would ask you to instruct this witness to simply answer my questions with a Yes or No, if possible...”
Judge Watts nods her assent. “Dr. Peterson, please refrain from adding your own comments and simply answer Mr. Messick's questions.”
“But Your Honor, his questions...”
Judge Watts doesn’t like anyone talking back to her, especially a witness. “I don't care, Dr. Peterson. Just answer the questions as best as you can without elaboration.”
Peterson sees that he’s going nowhere with the Judge. “Yes, Your Honor.”
“Okay, Dr. Peterson, let's try this again. In how many of the thousands of cases of AIDS that you’ve seen have you found the virus we are calling HIV?”
Peterson shakes his head in disbelief that he has to answer this without explaining.
“None.”
There was enough of a reaction in the courtroom that Judge Watts had to use her gavel to bring silence. Messick was going to play this for all it was worth.
“Did you say ‘none’? Zero?” Messick appears to be taken aback by the answer.
Peterson looks at the Judge again, hoping she would let him say more. But she just gave him a stern look of warning.
“Correct.”
“In not one case have you found the virus called HIV?”
Crawley finally jumps to his feet. “Objection. Asked and answered.”
Judge Watts, who appears to be somewhat surprised at Peterson’s answers as well, is required to agree with Crawley. “Sustained. Move on, Mr. Messick.”
That’s okay. I got my point across. “But, Dr. Peterson, doesn't Koch's Postulate Number One say that in order for the virus we call HIV to cause AIDS, that virus has to be found in every case of the disease?”
“Yes, but...”
Messick is not interested in the ‘but.’
“Dr. Peterson…” and he waits for Peterson to stop looking for help from Judge Watts and turn back around. “So not only have you not found HIV in every case of AIDS that you have studied, as required by Koch’s Postulate Number One, but you have never found it in even one case?”
“Objection again, Your Honor. Asked and answered.” Crawley doesn’t bother to stand up.
“Sustained. Don't do it again, Mr. Messick.”
Messick goes to his table and picks up a stack of papers from his desk.
“Dr. Peterson, it obviously has not been your experience, but did you know that there is a very small percentage of AIDS cases where the active virus called HIV has, in fact, been found and isolated? Your Honor, plaintiffs' exhibit #41.” Messick hands the papers to the Judge.
“Yes, I know. I've been trying to tell you...”
The Judge shoots Dr. Peterson a stern look to shut him up and then continues scanning the exhibit. Messick waits until Judge Watts finishes looking at the exhibit and hands it to Crawley before he asks his next question.
“But, Dr. Peterson, Koch’s Postulate Number One doesn’t talk about finding the cause in a very small percentage of cases, does it? It says in every case. And since the virus called HIV itself has not been found in every case of AIDS, in your opinion, does that mean that claiming the virus called HIV is the agent that causes AIDS violates Koch's Postulate Number One?”
“Yes, but...”
Messick has to interrupt once again, because he wants to change course slightly. “Dr. Peterson, just out of curiosity, what do you find when you examine the blood of an AIDS victim?”
Dr. Peterson looks so relieved to finally be able to tell his side of the story.
“It's what I've been trying to tell you, Mr. Messick. What we test for are HIV antibodies. We find the antibodies to HIV.”
“The antibodies? Not the virus itself, but the antibodies?”
“Yes, and we assume that if the antibodies are there, then the virus was also there.”
“You assume, Dr. Peterson? You assume? Isn’t it incumbent on a scientist – a medical doctor of your stature – isn’t it incumbent on you not to assume anything, but to prove it? I mean, would you tell a patient that you assume they have terminal cancer without proving it first?”
Peterson doesn’t know how to answer that. It was a question like: When did you stop beating your wife?
“And you said you assumed the HIV was there. Does that mean that when you test and find HIV antibodies, the virus itself isn’t there any more?”
“I’m not an expert in antibody theory, Mr. Messick.”
“Fine, I’ll ask someone else that question.” Messick takes the opportunity to glance at the jury, then decides it’s time to hit his homerun.
“Dr. Peterson, I want to make sure I’m following you in all this. Koch’s Postulate Number One requires you to prove that HIV is present in every case of the disease….” That wasn’t really a question, so Messick doesn’t want or wait for an answer. “But isn't it true, Dr. Peterson, that you – that the entire medical community – do not test for the virus called HIV at all, but instead test only to see whether the patient has the antibodies to HIV?”
“Yes! That's what I've been trying to say!”
“So when an announcement is made that ‘so many people’ have been found infected with HIV, the truth is that ‘so many people’ have tested positive for the HIV antibodies, and not for the virus called HIV itself?”
“Yes. Now you get it.”
“In fact, when an announcement is made that ‘so many people’ have been found infected with HIV, isn’t it true that hardly anyone has been found with the actual HIV itself?”
“Objection.” Crawley’s on his feet.
“Withdrawn.” Messick pauses. “But, Dr. Peterson, as I understand it, Koch’s Postulate Number One talks about finding the actual virus in every case of the disease, and doesn’t say anything about finding the antibody to the virus in every case of the disease. Correct?”
“Yes, but….”
“Then let me ask you this. In those ten years, did you at least find the antibodies to HIV in every case of AIDS that you saw?”
“In every case?”
“Yes, in every case.”
“Well, no.”
/> Messick shows his feigned surprise to the jury. “No?”
“No.”
“Why not, Dr. Peterson?”
“We didn’t test every patient for HIV.”
“You didn’t test all your AIDS patients for the antibodies to the virus you thought caused their disease? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes.”
“So I guess you must have once again assumed someone had this fatal disease and not bothered to try to prove it?”
Peterson just sits there, wishing he had gotten a lawyer to fight this subpoena - anything to escape this embarrassment and humiliation.
“Dr. Peterson, are you still there? Are you going to answer my question?”
“What’s the question, Mr. Messick?”
“The question is: are you saying that you diagnosed your patients with the deadly disease called AIDS without testing to see if they had the virus that supposedly caused it?”
“But we weren’t required to test every patient for HIV, Mr. Messick, in order to diagnose them with AIDS. The symptoms alone were sufficient.”
“How many of your thousands of AIDS cases did you actually test for the HIV antibodies before you told them they were going to die, Dr. Peterson?”
“Objection, inflammatory.”
“Sustained. Re-phrase, Mr. Messick.”
Messick cooled himself down a bit. He could get very passionate about this fairly easily. “Dr. Peterson, how many of your thousands of AIDS cases did you actually test for the HIV antibodies?”
“I can’t answer that for sure, Mr. Messick.”
Admit it, you son of a bitch: You guessed at a diagnosis. Well, then, you shouldn’t have any trouble with this question. “Take a guess, Dr. Peterson.”
“Do you want a number?”
“How about just a percentage – your best guess at a percentage.”
Peterson thinks for a minute. “I’d say, maybe 50%.”
“Half?”
“Well, maybe a little less than half.”
“So with more than half your patients, you simply assumed they had this fatal disease without finding out if they had the cause in their bodies, correct?”
“Yes, Mr. Messick, that’s correct. As I said, having the symptoms of AIDS was enough to make the diagnosis.”
Messick looks at his notes to make sure he’s covered everything. “Dr. Peterson, you said you were not an expert witness in antibody theory?”
“No, I’m not.”
“Then Dr. Peterson, I'll save those questions for someone who is. And I will end your questions here. But let me see if I have this straight. Correct me if I'm wrong...” Messick leans on the jury rail with one hand and looks down the two rows of jurors, trying to make eye contact with each one. “You and all other AIDS specialists don’t test all your patients for HIV before diagnosing them with AIDS, and when you do test them, you almost never find the virus called HIV in any case of AIDS, as Koch's Postulate Number One requires, but you find the HIV antibodies instead...”
Crawley is on his feet again, but the Judge beats him to it.
“Mr. Messick, I warned you.”
“I know Your Honor, asked and answered. No further questions of this witness.”