The doctor for three AIDS-exposed brothers who were ostracized in their hometown has retracted his diagnosis of AIDS-related complex for the oldest boy. Jerry Barbosa testified at a hearing Tuesday that he earlier made the diagnosis for 11-year-old Ricky Ray because he felt compelled to under a judge's order. AIDS-related complex, or ARC, often is a precursor to acquired immune deficiency syndrome. There is no known cure for AIDS. ``The way I interpreted the order, I had no choice but to label this patient as having ARC against my clinical judgment,'' Barbosa told U.S. Magistrate Elizabeth A. Jenkins. The purpose of Tuesday's hearing was to clarify earlier reports that the physician had diagnosed ARC in the youth weeks before reporting it to the court. On Jan. 29, U.S. District Judge Elizabeth Kovachevich modified an earlier order and required Barbosa to report the progress of ``any AIDS, AIDS symptomology, or other AIDS-related syndrome.'' Her wording prompted him to say in his Feb. 2 report that Ricky had developed ARC, Barbosa said. But Ricky has not exhibited physical symptoms necessary for such a finding, although the boy's blood tests might support an ARC diagnosis, the doctor said. He also cited April 1987 guidelines issued by the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta that prohibit labeling any child under age 13 as having ARC. ``It doesn't mean much to the court that somebody has or doesn't have ARC,'' Ms. Jenkins said. ``When material changes in the boys' health occurs, it is not up to the court to try to look behind the medical reports to see what is there.'' When Ms. Kovachevich ruled Aug. 5, 1987, that the DeSoto County School system had to readmit the Ray brothers to regular classes, she ordered AIDS testing of the boys every six months and said any changes in their condition had to be reported to her. Ms. Jenkins told attorneys for the Rays and the school board to devise an improved way to keep the court informed about the hemophiliac brothers' medical conditions. The attorneys must submit the plan by Monday. Ricky, Robert, 10, and Randy, 8, were banned from regular classes after they tested positive for the AIDS antibody in August 1986. Doctors say the children were apparently exposed to the AIDS virus through infusions of blood products that aim to promote clotting. Soon after the boys began school in Arcadia last fall, amid a boycott and protests by other students' parents, an arsonist torched the Ray home. Since then, the family has moved to Sarasota, where the Ray children have attended public school without incident.
