Retro

A case involving a sick baby leads the team to a doctor that denies the existence of AIDS. Read the recap and review of NBC's Law and Order Special Victims Unit.

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BeeCap

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Elliot and Olivia are called to find the parents of an HIV infected infant that was turned in to the police. The baby was brought to the hospital and almost died from her illness. The baby was turned in by Marong, a cab driver who says that the mother left the baby in his car.

Elliot looks at the cab's video camera and finds that the last person in the vehicle before Marong turned in the baby was a man. Elliot asks Marong where is the footage of the mother and he says that he turned off the camera to take a fare without running the meter. Marong is brought to station to give a better description of the mother.

Olivia and Elliot discover that the baby belongs to a Joanne Suarez, a woman who is now in prison. They visit her to ask about the baby. Suarez tells the detectives that she lied to the government about the baby because she did not want them to take her away. They tell her that her baby and her have HIV. She is surprised at the news and asks them how they found out. They tell her that the baby was turned in by a cabbie. She says that she left her baby with her down stairs neighbor who said she would take care of her.

Olivia and Elliot go to the neighbor's house and find that the woman that was caring for Joanne's baby is Marong's wife. They bring them to the station for questioning.

The couple tells the police that they cared for the baby, but she got sicker and sicker. The wife says that she recognized the symptoms as the same as the ones that her sister had in Gambia. The Marongs say that AIDS medicines are poison. She says that the President of Gambia told the nation that people that are sick like her sister should be treated with a recipe containing bananas and other ingredients. They tell the detectives that they went on the internet and found a doctor who prescribes similar therapy.

Elliot and Olivia meet with Gideon Hutton, the doctor that was originally treating the baby. Hutton tells them that he gave the baby yogurt for her sickness. He says that she was showing symptoms of thrush and that the Marongs should have returned for the baby to receive anti-fungal medication. He tells them that he does not believe in HIV medicine.

Back at the station, Detective Munch loads up Hutton's website. The website states that the AIDS medicine will kill the patients. It also states that AIDS medicines are only there to profit the doctors and drug companies. The team believes that Hutton is an AIDS denier. The team becomes determined to put Hutton out of business.

ADA Kim Greyleck knows that the doctor's medical records are protected and decides to use the media to take Hutton down. She calls a press conference and informs the public that the authorities have set up a confidential tip line set up to receive any reports of people that are being treated by Hutton and want help.

Later, Hutton arrives at the station with his attorney. He tells the staff that the press conference is full of libel. The lawyer tells the police that she wants a public apology or there will be a lawsuit.

Munch tells the rest of the team that the tip line received a call about a girl, named Lisa Ross, who was not given treatment for AIDS. Elliot and Olivia decide to visit the Ross residence. They knock on the door and ask a boy who answers the door if they can speak to Lisa. The boy tells them that Lisa is dead.

The team enters the house and speak to Lisa's mother, Susan. Susan tells them that Lisa died a few months back from an allergic reaction to penicillin given by Dr. Hutton. She says that after her dose, she had trouble breathing. Hutton gave her adrenalin and shocked her heart, but she still died. Susan tells them that Lisa was healthy until she got a cold.

Elliot and Olivia return to the station to examine the records that Susan provided for them. They find that Lisa's body was never looked at by any medical examiner and that Hutton signed the death certificate. They find that Susan's husband died recently. They also learn that Susan was a teacher, but now is unemployed. By listening to the anonymous phonecall, they figure that the person who placed the call is a teacher.

Olivia and Elliot meet with Jack Lufton, a chemistry teacher at Susan's old school. Jack tells them that he was dating Susan and discovered that he was HIV positive. He told Susan and she said that she had it too but didn't think it was a big deal. Susan told Jack that her husband died during a safari accident in Africa. She told Jack that she was hurt too and received an HIV infected blood transfusion. The school was informed of her sickness and thought that she was a danger to the other students because of her belief that HIV is harmless.

Back at the station, Warner tells Greyleck that babies with HIV mothers have a 98 percent chance of being born healthy with proper precautions. Because of her actions they decide to charge her with criminal negligent homicide. They determine that the only way to prove that Lisa was killed by AIDS is to exhume her body.

Warner examines Lisa's body and finds enough evidence to show that she died from problems related to AIDS. The police arrest Susan and Hutton for negligent murder.

In court, Warner testifies about the effects of the HIV virus. She tells the court that HIV has been shown to exist beyond a shadow of a doubt and has killed more that 25 million people since 1981.

The defendant's lawyer asks Warner if Lisa's death may be the result of any other disease. Warner tells the court that she checked for signs of other diseases that show similar symptoms. She has eliminated the other causes and found that the only explainable remaining cause of death is the result of complications due to AIDS.

Hutton is called to the stand and says that HIV is a retrovirus and that retroviruses are common in the human body. He states that no retrovirus has been shown to kill any human. He tells the jury that the evidence shown by the prosecutors is propaganda to create fear. Hutton tells the jury that HIV drugs are created to bring drug companies billions of dollars in profits. He says that the only people that are reported to have died from HIV are people who actually died from blood toxicity, people who are either gay or drug addicts.

Greyleck asks Hutton if he has ever conducted any research or published a medical paper on HIV. He says he hasn't because medical journals only exist to carry out the status quo. Hutton tells the court that there are plenty of doctors out there who back up his theory. He tells the court that Warner has a medical bias because her people in Africa are dying in the masses.

Susan is later called to the stand. She tells the court that she found out that she was HIV positive when she was pregnant. She says that she was put on antiretrovirus drugs, but that it only made her sicker. She says that a friend took her to Hutton and that he took her off the drugs and saved her life.

Greyleck asks Susan why she did not give Lisa any anti HIV drugs. Susan tells her that because the antiretrovirus drugs almost killed her, she would not give it to her daughter. Greyleck introduces members of the audience that have survived because of them taking ARV drugs. She tells Susan that because she withheld treatment for Lisa, she pretty much killed her. Susan begins to shake and has a seizure on the stand. Warner examines her and calls out to call an ambulance.

Susan is brought to the hospital and is told by Olivia that she has Toxoplasmosis, a brain disease that AIDS sufferers get. Susan tells her that she has been suffering from migraines and told Hutton about it, but he said that it was only temporary grief. Olivia asks her to help her before Hutton hurts anyone else. Susan tells her that Lisa is not the only child that died under Hutton's care. Susan then flatlines and dies. Susan's son, Tommy is told that his mother is dead then goes into the room to say parting words.

Later, Greyleck meets with Hutton and his lawyer. Elliot tells them that they have subpoenaed Hutton's medical records and have found at least 3 kids dead under his care. Greyleck tells Hutton to plead guilty, get his doctor's license taken away and receive 5 years in jail. At first, Hutton refuses, but his attorney advises him to take the deal. Hutton tells the police that he will speak the truth from his prison cell.

After the case, while reviewing Hutton's medical files, Olivia finds that Susan was HIV positive before giving birth to Tommy. They decide to bring Tommy in to test if he has HIV. In the hospital, Tommy refuses to be tested and kicks Elliot in his ribs. Hutton's lawyer comes in and tells Elliot that she is now representing Tommy and that he has the right to refuse treatment.

After finding that Elliot has a couple broken ribs, Greyleck decides to challenge Tommy's competency and compel him to get tested.

At the competency trial, Tommy tells the court that he was taught about HIV and AIDS at school. He adds that his mother told him that there is no proof of AIDS. He came to the conclusion that what his mother was telling him makes sense.

Greyleck asks if he knows about Holocaust and its deniers. Tommy says that he believes in the Holocaust and says that even though people deny the Holocaust, it doesn't mean that they are right. Greyleck tells Tommy that his mother lied to him to feed her state of denial that she does not have a disease.

The judge finds that Tommy is aware of the consequences of not getting tested. He finds that he is competent and that it would be infringing on his rights to force him to get tested. Greyleck moves to press charges of assualting Elliot. Elliot tells her that the whole point was to get him tested and that putting him in jail won't accomplish that. Elliot tells her to drop the charges.

After the case, Tommy thanks Elliot for dropping the charges. Elliot asks Tommy for a favor of visiting someone in the hospital. Tommy meets a kid named Kyle who has brain cancer. Kyle tells Tommy that his parents were Christian Scientists who didn't believe in doctors, but instead believed in prayers. Kyle followed their belief until he became blind due to his illness. He spoke to his grandma who told him that God put doctors and treatments on Earth for people to use them. Afterwards, he sought treatment and got better to the point where his vision returned.

Later Tommy decides to get tested for HIV. He tells Elliot that he was found positive. He says that he does not want to die. Elliot tells him that with treatment, he has whole his life ahead of him.

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BeeThoughts

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I thought that this episode was heavy on the court drama and the HIV information. I appreciate the show's service of informing the public. By dramatizing a doctor who is an absolute denier of the pandemic of HIV and AIDS, the show accomplishes the task of increasing the audiences knowledge of the effects and treatments of the disease. This show makes the case for people to seek treatment if they discover that they have the disease. The only problem that I had with the episode is with the ending. I think that a different character than the Christian Scientist boy should have been used to convince Tommy to get tested. The boy was only in his position because of his parent's religion. There was no evidence that Tommy was religious, he just had the false scientific belief that HIV did not exist. I thought they should have introduced a character that was receiving HIV treatment. I think this character would have showed Tommy that a person can live a long life and flourish even though this person was inflicted, but only if this person were diagnosed and received treatments.

- Kristofer M.

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Tags: Law and Order SVU  Season 10  Episode 5  Recap  Review  Retro  10.5