http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040830/ap_on_he_me/false_hiv_test_1
Sun Aug 29, 9:40 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO - A California man who once tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS has learned the diagnosis made eight years ago was mistaken and he never had the disease.
Jim Malone spent years battling depression and losing weight, expecting to die at any time. He attended support group meetings and accepted free meals from an AIDS charity.
Malone's main doctor, Richard Karp, acknowledged the error in an Aug. 4 letter to the Department of Veterans Affairs clinic where Malone was treated. "As his primary care provider, I take full responsibility," the doctor wrote.
Malone, who is gay and has lost friends to AIDS, said he is relieved but angry at his doctor.
"He told me, 'We made a very big mistake. We did not do our job,'" he said. "I said, 'You mean to tell me that all you have to say is you are sorry? Sorry that I lived for all this time believing I was going to die?'"
The Oakland Department of Veterans Affairs is investigating.