Records Of 5,000 HIV-Positive Medi-Cal Recipients Released Publicly By California State Health Agency
In stunning breach of confidentiality and violation of state law, the California Department of Health Care Services released unauthorized and illegal disclosures of identifying information of 5,000 HIV-positive Medi-Cal recipients. This was over a two-and-a-half-year period, beginning in 2007, to a third party service provider AIDS Healthcare Foundation, according to San Diego Gay And Lesbian News (SDLGN).
“The state stepped out of bounds when it disclosed the confidential records of HIV-positive Medi-Cal patients, even including their contact information,” said Elizabeth Gill, staff attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “Medical records contain highly sensitive and personal information, and DHCS had no right to give out that information without people’s permission.”
Lambda Legal and ACLU-NC became aware of the breach says SDLGN, during discussions about AB 2590, a bill which would have diluted the strong confidentiality protections under California law for those with HIV/AIDS and would have legalized the unauthorized release of such information to an HIV/AIDS service provider. Although current law forbids unauthorized disclosures about a person’s HIV status, the state agency released confidential identifying information about HIV-positive Medi-Cal recipients without authorization or proper limitations on how that information was to be used by a private organization, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.
“This is not just a violation of people’s privacy, it’s a violation of California law,” said Peter Renn, staff attorney with Lambda Legal.
Lambda Legal, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California (ACLU-NC), and HIV & AIDS Legal Services Alliance (HALSA) sent a letter to David Maxwell-Jolly, Director of the California Department of Health Care Services, demanding a full explanation for the unauthorized and illegal disclosures. The following is a PDF copy of the letter:
SDLGN: California state agency released confidential HIV information: ACLU and Lambda Legal demand explanation
Tags: HIV/AIDS, State Politics
News | Derrick Mathis September 9, 2010
6 Comments to “Records Of 5,000 HIV-Positive Medi-Cal Recipients Released Publicly By California State Health Agency”
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By Erika, July 13, 2011 @ 10:18 am
It is a violation to humanity releasing this information. But I have to say that I agree with the release of these records though it could have just mentioned the name and the city… Alot of HIV recipients are not telling their partners of their disease and these times require communication between partners, and honesty.. Though we must be the first to protect ourselves no matter if your partner does not take the initiative to do so. I do not want to think that those infected are in the urge to infect others. We have to take responsibility for our actions, and not complain later when the consequences are death.