Now that authorities have settled on the cause of Eliza Jane's death, the focus has turned to the parents and their remaining child, Charlie.
Even when a child dies because he or she did not receive adequate medical treatment, the law is not at all clear about who, if anyone, should be held responsible. There are few precedents, and courts traditionally give parents and doctors wide discretion.
In two U.S. cases involving HIV-positive mothers who refused testing and treatment -- neither of which involved a child who died -- the courts appear to have issued conflicting opinions.
"There's no easy answer," said Dubler.
What is clear is that child welfare authorities had been told that Maggiore was HIV-positive in 2000 and that her son was at risk for the virus, according to agency records.
An investigator from the Department of Children and Family Services visited the home, according to a copy of the case report reviewed by The Times, but she did not have Charlie tested for HIV or talk to outside experts. She instead relied on her own observations and the assurances of Fleiss.
"Parents appear appropriate and extremely focused on child's well-being in every aspect," caseworker Rebecca McCauley wrote in February 2000.
Dr. Charles Sophy, medical director for the DCFS, acknowledged that his department may have erred.
He said the caseworker tried to do her job but relied entirely on Fleiss because the department, at the time, did not have its own medical experts to consult. But even with Eliza Jane's death, Sophy said, it's not entirely clear that Charlie is being neglected.
Legal experts said the problem lies in the official definition of neglect.
"DCFS is used to your prototypical neglect case where the house is filthy and the mother doesn't care," said Thomas Lyon, a USC law professor and expert in child abuse litigation. "They're just not accustomed to the kind of neglect where you have an otherwise healthy, good parent."
Word Is Getting Out
Since Eliza Jane's death, Maggiore and her husband have kept a relatively low profile, her friends said. But word is slowly reaching HIV dissidents around the country.
Though shaken, most of them say they continue to support Maggiore and her contention that HIV is not the cause of AIDS.
For her part, Maggiore said that her daughter's death has taken a toll on her health; she's had trouble eating, sleeping and, this past summer, simply breathing. She's treated her symptoms with Chinese herbs, walked five miles a day and practiced yoga, and is now feeling better, she said.
She went to a sympathetic doctor, she said. "If I had gone to a regular AIDS doctor and told them I was HIV-positive, I have no doubt they would have blamed it on that."
In the weeks after Eliza Jane's death, her parents created a website,\o7 www.ejlovetour.com,\f7 in her memory. Maggiore wrote lovingly of her daughter, wavering between despair at her loss and acceptance that Eliza Jane had simply chosen, as Maggiore put it, to "go home."
She struggled most with the whys.
"Why our child -- so appreciated, so held, so carefully nurtured -- and not one ignored, abused or abandoned?" she wrote. "How come what we offered was not enough to keep her here when children with far less -- impatient distracted parents, a small apartment on a busy street, extended day care, Oscar Mayer Lunchables -- will happily stay?"
