This is truly chilling, I would say blood curdling news.
A Libyan court sentenced five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor to death on Tuesday for deliberately infecting hundreds of children with the virus that causes AIDS, provoking a chorus of Western condemnation.
. . .``Justice has been done. We are happy,'' said Subhy Abdullah, whose daughter Mona, 7, died from AIDS contracted at the hospital in the town of Benghazi where the medics worked.
``They should be executed quickly.''
http://www.nytimes.com/...
I'm doing this diary as quickly as I can because, it seems to me essential that this ghastly turn of events get as much attention as possible.
Depending on your point of view, many of you tell me that my strength as a contributor to Daily Kos is that I personalize the great tragedies of our time, others find fault with my methods.
Today, though, I'm going to personalize this terrible tragedy.
Many others, far more tuned in to the massive geopolitical ramifications of this verdict will undoubtedly weigh in as well.
Please go to the web site of Declan Butler for all of the most recent news and updates.
http://declanbutler.info/...
Nature and Declan Butler have been out front on this tremendous human rights violation for some time.
On Dec. 6, too late for use in the trial, Nature magazine published an analysis of HIV and hepatitis virus samples from the children. Using changes in the genetic information of HIV over time as a "molecular clock," analysts concluded the virus was contracted before the six defendants arrived at the hospital _ perhaps even three years before.
Oxford University, which took part in the study, issued a statement saying the verdict "runs counter to the conclusion reached by a research team from Oxford University's Zoology Department who, in collaboration with several European universities, showed that the subtype of HIV involved began infecting patients long before March 1998, the date the prosecution claims the crime began."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/...
I'm going to tell you why this situation should offend and nauseate every human being who lives in the civilized world.
Doctors risk their lives every day to take care of you and me. None more so than doctors and other healthcare workers who treat HIV positive patients. Though we have made enormous strides in what I suppose is called disease management, treating an HIV positive patient is still a high risk endeavor.
Last week, my friend the surgeon and oncologist performed very complex and risky surgery on a woman who was HIV positive. Essential surgery, that many, many other doctors were too fearful to perform. This is an aside, but make no mistake, doctors are often acting in the most selfless and heroic capacity when they are up to their elbows in the blood of HIV positive patients.
How many desperately ill children will now face the likely horrors of the Libyan healthcare system without the support of better trained foreign medical workers? As a healthcare worker, would you dare venture into a country like Libya and risk your life treating patients regardless of their HIV status if you could end up facing execution?
This is from the New York Times.
The International Council of Nurses and World Medical Association said the ruling turned a blind eye to evidence -- including from Luc Montagnier, a French doctor who first detected the HIV virus -- that the children were infected well before the medics arrived in Benghazi in 1998.
``How many children will go on dying in Libyan hospitals while the government ignores the root of the problem?'' they said in a joint statement.
Some Western scientists say negligence and poor hospital hygiene are the real culprits and the six are scapegoats.Analysts say the case is embroiled in power politics and a solution could take many more months, with Libya keeping the six as bargaining chips until talks yield a payout.
Tripoli has demanded 10 million euros ($13.11 million) for each infected child's family. Bulgaria and its allies reject this, saying it would admit guilt, but have offered a fund for treatment at European hospitals for the children.
This is the web site for Nature Magazine, you can also go there for the most detailed information on the case.
http://www.nature.com/...
By the way, as far as I can tell, the United States has not not, as I write this, joined the civilized world in speaking out against this grave atrocity.