British High Court Hears Arguments on Child Whose Father Refuses to Give Her HIV Drug Treatment
A British High Court judge heard arguments Friday on whether a three-year-old HIV-positive girl should be treated with antiretroviral drugs over the objections of her father, the Guardian reports. The girl and her father, an alternative health practitioner, were met by court officials at Heathrow Airport last Wednesday when they returned from Australia, where they had fled in 1999 after the court ordered that the child be tested for HIV because the mother, who has since died, was HIV-positive (Dyer, Guardian, 5/11). An Australian court ruled May 2 that it would be in the child's best interest to return to the United Kingdom (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 5/8). The unidentified girl has been declared a ward of the court and is currently in a hospital awaiting the results of tests to determine the scope of her illness (Guardian, 5/11). Justice Arthur Charles heard arguments in the case in his private office, although it is not clear who was involved with the case, whether there will be further hearings or when his ruling will be disclosed publicly (Associated Press, 5/10). However, the council of Camden, the borough where the girl is from originally, is expected to request that the child remain a ward of the court until she turns 18 (Guardian, 5/11).
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