The father of a 9-year-old who is HIV positive says he can't give virus-suppressing medication to his son because it would be like "killing my child".
The man told the High Court yesterday: "It's like I'm giving poison to my child."
The man, who says his son doesn't need treatment, was called to testify after a health board sought an order from the court giving doctors guardianship rights over the boy's medical care for HIV.
The boy was diagnosed shortly after he was born and has never been on a treatment programme. The court order was sought after years of effort by the doctors to have the father give the boy medication.
Extensive suppression orders cover the case, including the identity of the boy -- who is unaware he is HIV-positive -- and that of his doctors.
The father of the boy told the court he did not accept tests which showed the boy was HIV positive. He said if the boy was HIV positive then he believed side-effects from treatment would kill him.
He said he had spent thousands of hours researching the virus online and disputed the position taken by the doctors. Rather than a deadly, life-long illness, the man said, HIV was harmless and did not cause Aids.
The man said he had also become "cynical of the New Zealand health system" after being told the boy's mother was HIV positive after she had died.
A blood test showing the result came back after she had died, showing the wrong gender, birth date and using incorrect initials to describe her name, the court was told.
The lack of a promised autopsy meant he never believed his wife was HIV positive -- or that it was possible for his son to contract the virus through his mother, he said. The father told the court his son was healthy, despite doctors telling him there was a likelihood his son would die without treatment.
He said he had only once given his son treatment for HIV because he believed the side-effects were so bad, and on that occasion it was with the intent of defeating a blood test.
"I love my children and as a father I want the very best for them," he said.
The research he had done ruled out HIV medication.
"Due to the veracity of my views, I could not give [the boy] these tablets to swallow because they are very harmful."
Justice Patrick Keane will hear final submissions on the case on February 17.
- David Fisher of the New Zealand Herald
