http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=6&u=/ap/20041216/ap_on_he_me/aids_drug_deathA pregnant Tennessee woman who enrolled in federally funded research in hopes of saving her soon-to-be-born son from getting AIDS died last year when doctors continued to give her an experimental drug regimen despite signs of liver failure, government memos say.
Family members of Joyce Ann Hafford say the 33-year-old HIV-positive woman died without ever holding her newborn boy. They also said they never were told the National Institutes of Health concluded the drug therapy likely caused her death.
The family first learned of NIH's conclusions when The Associated Press obtained copies of the case file this month. For the past year, they say they were left to believe Hafford, of Memphis, Tenn., died from AIDS complications but began pursuing litigation to learn more.
"They tried to make it sound like she was just sick. They never connected it to the drug," said Rubbie King, Hafford's sister.