Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1998. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press; Friday, September 11, 1998
Frank Fisher, Associated Press Writer
Ms. Emerson, 27, believes the three-drug cocktail that has subdued the AIDS virus in many patients will only hasten 4-year-old Nikolas' death rather than prolong his life.
The state disagrees, and on Thursday it asked a judge to decide who will get Nikolas: his mother or the Maine Department of Human Services.
"I'm doing what's right in my heart. That's all I can do," Ms. Emerson said during a break in a 10-hour closed-door hearing before Judge Douglas Clapp.
The judge is expected to rule sometime next week.
Ms. Emerson, who is infected with HIV herself and has stopped taking medication as well, passed the virus on to Nikolas at birth. She has two other children who do not have the virus.
Her only daughter, Tia, died of AIDS-related pneumonia in 1996 just before her fourth birthday despite getting the drug AZT in combination with other drugs.
The so-called AIDS cocktail has improved the health of many AIDS patients, but Ms. Emerson believes the powerful drugs had the opposite effect on her daughter, and she has some medical opinions on her side.
During Thursday's hearing, two scientists testified that AZT and other powerful drugs will overwhelm Nikolas' immune system and kill him faster than if he were left alone.
One of the witneses was David Rasnick, a visiting scientist at the University of California at Berkeley who has even questioned whether AIDS is caused by HIV.
But the state said it bases its opinion on the work of national experts and doctors who have examined Nikolas.
"Not treating him is not an option," said Magaret Semple, director of the state's Bureau of Child and Family Services.
Nikolas' estranged father, Ryan Dubay, agrees.
"I want my son taken away and done with right," said Dubay, who is HIV-positive and has not seen Nikolas in two years.
Nikolas' physician, Dr. Jean Benson, said the youngster has been thriving since he was taken off AZT in March 1997. Benson described Nikolas as "a happy, rambunctious little boy."
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