Customer Reviews

Wrongful Death: The AIDS Trial

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm usually the first to TP the pharmaceutical industry and the government's house but in this case this book is way off track. The first way he's wrong is in his assessment of how we diagnose HIV. We have to search for anti-bodies because viruses are too small. 100 times smaller than bacteria. They can only be seen through an electron microscope. Think of searching something the size of Lake Erie one cubic yard at a time small. Viruses are so small that scientists still argue on whether or not they can be classified as living. So we search for the body's immune response to it. It's faster and doesn't cost 1 million dollars per test. Anti-bodies are created in response to an invader, not the successful eradication of an invader. He was wrong again. That happens when you don't actually talk to an immunologist when you write his part. Also AZT was originally a viral inhibitor. They experimented with it back when a working hypothesis was that cancer was caused by viruses. It was never like modern chemo drugs that depend on controlled doses of poison that weaken the body. Yes there are side effects and they are bad, but not the ones your thinking of. Further more retro viruses are unstable. Not really a problem for it when it can invade a cell and produce 1 trillion copies a pop. This is a problem for us because if one accidental mistake produces drug resistance, it can produce a few more million copies that promote that resistance. Even if it makes a lot of mistakes along the way. Because there was only one drug at the time they prescribed it at a higher dose because it was the only thing there was. Now we have a cocktail that can nail the virus multiple ways even if evolves resistance to one. Talk to your doctor, go to web md look at Wikipedia even. Grab a book about viruses and read yourself. South Africa adopted this policy of AIDS denialism and it killed thousands of people. Oh yeah, the writing. Fair writing skill really he knows how to write about characters, but the whole thing is so David vs. Goliath cliched it's not funny. His character is a Mary Sue trope. He's writing with a political agenda and character development is riding in the backseat.

because you'll need one if you believe this trash. The pharmaceutical industry has a lot to answer for but hiding the cause of AIDS isn't one of them. I just love a book that screams "It's a cover up! They're not telling us everything!", while simultaneously ignoring hundreds if not thousands of studies that show the opposite conclusion. Did you also know that certain vaccines are a sterilization program against various ethnic/religious groups and cause autism as well? And that you can cure HIV by eating garlic? If you believe that and this book, I've got a nice bridge I'd like to sell you.

What silly nonsense. This book and Duesberg's books and Bialy's book do not get serious attention because they are meaningless. They do not address current research about HIV/AIDS. They do not address current issues that people with HIV face. Few people in the U.S. are taking AZT anymore. There are lots of new effective HIV medications that are helping people with HIV. There's a baby boom among HIV positive women! Go to any AIDS organization and you shall see! Don't read these nonsensical books. Get evidence from the frontlines of AIDS, not from quacks who make up stuff!

They do not address the large number of people still going untreated in the developing world. There are thousands of studies that have been conducted in the U.S., U.K., France, Spain and Italy that have proven that HIV is a dangerous disease and that HIV meds help. These large clinical trials are not addressed in this fictional book or in Duesberg's books. Remember Bill Gates and Bill Clinton would not be devoting their time and for Bill Gates, a sizable part of his fortune to help people with HIV if they did not see for themselves the fruit of their labor. Duesberg and Co. are a fringe group of irresponsible academics who care not for the people who may die believing in their theories. Shame on them!

When I first encountered the disease we now know as AIDS, it was still being called GRID. I worked in hospital oncology and AIDS patients were all sent to us because we had experience in dealing with the immune deficiency and opportunistic infections often a complication of cancer therapies. I have personally been involved with HIV/AIDS education since the early 80's and I have done a great deal of study on the disease, its cause and its treatment so I am not just reacting based on opinion.

This book is fiction pretending to tell a truth that does not exist. The author blatantly puts words into the mouths of real scientists that they have never said and probably never would. A couple of times pseudonyms were used to pretend to hide the identities of real people who are or were HIV or AIDS patients. Just think of a "famous tennis player" who died from AIDS acquired from a blood transfusion during heart surgery and a famous basketball player living with HIV but doing well with proper treatment. Not much of a disguising, but much that this author does is inept.

I won't pretend to have any affection for the HIV denialists who have done so much harm with ridiculous conclusions and bad science. Neither will I concede any sympathy for this author who seems totally persuaded by the nonsense Duesberg and other pretend is factual.

For example, the book argues that "poppers" cause AIDS and simply dismisses a number of scientifically appropriate studies which ruled this out as a cause. Certainly the vast majority of the hemophilia patients we saw with AIDS had never even heard of poppers, let alone used them. Neither had their wives or children who caught the HIV from the spouse with HIV or by transmission prenatally from an infected mother. This was also true of nearly all of the children and adults we saw with AIDS from blood transfusions.

The book also claims that AZT caused AIDS and killed people directly. This is beyond disgusting. People who were taking AZT died early on because it was all that we had to fight HIV and alone it is not enough. Of course, this deluded author also fails to note that many children were SAVED from HIV/AIDS because of AZT given to pregnant HIV+ women and to neonates. The author falsely blames a rising death rate on AZT rather than on a rising number of cases without a truly effective treatment being available.

The author also makes a huge point about HIV not meeting all of Koch's Postulates without recognizing that more modern science has found that there are exceptions to Koch's statements that were beyond his knowledge. One postulate is that an organism must "always" cause the disease when give to a healthy individual. This of course is false if you consider natural resistance such as that in people with a genetic predisposition to nonprogression with HIV. It's also false for someone who has been successfully vaccinated against a disease or someone who has had it and survived with immunities.

The author claims that people can have AIDS without having the HIV virus. Unfortunately, this is based on the lack of sensitivity in viral testing early on and on the finding of variant strains such as HIV-2 which earlier diagnostic tests were falsely negative.

To list all of the inaccuracies that riddle this work of pure fiction would be far too long for a review. It's a pity that a person who writes fairly well has fallen victim to so much snake oil. It's a pity as well that those who publish the same garbage as fact cannot be prosecuted for the lives that they ruin and the unneeded deaths that occur because the gullible believe them. In closing, the most despicable lie in this disreputable work is that HIV/AIDS cannot be sexually transmitted. Don't buy that for a minute and don't forget just how fictional this propaganda novel really is.

I cannot support an author that writes about a subject with such ignorance. How can he write about HIV/AIDS without knowing anyone who has the disease? No matter if the author has been a physicians assistant, or a state senator. Until you have either lived with the disease or loved someone with the disease, there is a lot that you do not know on the human side of the equation.

I have had two dear friends in my life with HIV/AIDS. The first, became positive in the mid 1980's, and remained in denial about it for over 10 years. The disease took its toll, and one day, he collapsed with extreme headache pain, high fever and a diagnosis of Cryptococcal Meningitis, and was in a coma like state for over a month. His T cell count was in the single digits. It was in 1996, when the new "cocktails" had come on the market. This man had never taken AZT. From there, for the next four years, it was a roller coaster ride from one infection to the next. Pneumonia, herpes infections of the eyes, and in the end, another form of meningitis, pneumonia and every other opportunistic disease ravaged his body.

My other friend became positive in the early 80's. When AZT became available, he took the drugs. When it became time to move onto other therapies, as his T cell counts dropped, other problems arose and new and better drugs came on the market, he took them. He also survived two bouts of cancer. But I think importantly, being aware and not being in denial is what has kept this man living.

My biggest concern is the number of readers who certainly represent a larger populace that are accepting this author's work of fiction as fact. Just because you read something in print does not mean it is true. I encourage those that do decide to read this work, to do research on the other side of the story. We are seeing HIV positive patients live longer now because of better drug therapies prevent the HIV
from developing INTO AIDS. We must still remain vigilant. HIV/AIDS is still real.

I'll give the author credit for one thing- this book is well written, and almost hard to put down. However, his arguments are completely one sided. The book is centered around a trial attempting to disprove the concept that HIV causes AIDS. This book is a complete piece of fiction. It might be an enjoyable read to one who is already an AIDS denialist, but to anyone who has half of a brain, it is pure garbage intended to brainwash the masses. Just as the character of the prosecuting attorney is trying to convince the jury, the author is presenting a one-sided argument to all of his readers. The fact that even the defense attorney character chooses not to argue a defense proves that the author doesn't care about the truth, but merely his own agenda. The author intentionally leaves out the defense argument so that his readers forget there is another side of the story that actually makes more sense, and are tricked into believing his accusations actually make sense. In all actuality, this book is a piece of fiction with an agenda. AIDS denialism is dangerous because there are people with these views living with HIV, and knowingly transmitting the virus to others because they believe it is harmless. I'll keep my tinfoil in the pantry where it belongs, thank you very much.

...this would have almost been amusing.

Unfortunately, there are far too many who will believe anything. There are too many people who live with such bias and hate that they will cling to any excuse to blame the victim - and this book provides those hateful ones with just the platform they want.

If you, too, are looking for validation, wanting to convince yourself that AIDS cannot be the result of an indiscriminate virus but must be somehow the fault of the victims, for taking medicines or for taking drugs or for simply being gay, then this is the book for you.

For the rest of you, please spend a little time clicking on the five-star reviewers' "see all reviews" links. The vast majority of them have only ever reviewed this book, and for some of them that was years ago - so it's not as if they only just made an account so they could rave about this "wonderful" book. Indeed, it's more as if those are not real people at all, but are shams, fake accounts, or , even, sock puppets (perish the thought!). Take a few minutes. Read the reviews. Writing styles seem similar? Click over and see how many only ever reviewed this single book. Odd, ain't it?

I have no intention reading a "work of fiction based on fact" that purports to pass itself off as factual. If the author wanted to write a factual book, why not just write a non-fiction book or long essay? This makes no sense to me at all. Last I heard, "fiction" means "not real".

this was my second kindle read, and overall I enjoyed it. I think if it were to get the full 5 star I would have wanted the following:
A little more out of court storyline. As 95% is set in the court, we don't really get to know the main characters that well. There is more than a hint of a back story to the lawyers, and that would have been something worth following up. It would have added some meat to what was going on, and why it was going on. Also, being set in the court room to this extent did leave me feeling a little jaded at times.
I would have also liked the defence to have had more teeth. The story was incredibly one sided and as such you knew the outcome before you had read too many pages. John Grisham does at least have you following a few twists and turns. For sure there was one unexpected turn, but again - it was almost glossed over.

I do not agree with the one star reviews regarding the accuracy. I read this first and foremost as a work of fiction. To try and bring factual account into the basis of a review is a little unfair.

recommended?? Yes, it is still a good read but could have been even better. Some may find it plods a little and is too one sided.

I can't speak to the veracity of the claims made or the accuracy of the evidence presented in the websites listed at the end of the book. However, it is a page turner from beginning to end. I thoroughly enjoyed every word of this book and definitely have a lot to think about now in regards to HIV, AIDS, our healthcare system and the drug companies. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK especially to anyone who enjoys reading about medical issues or procedures.