HIV report

OB/GYN News, Dec 15, 2003 by Mary Ellen Schneider

Many people with HIV/AIDS lace discrimination ranging from an inability to get medical care to disclosure of their private medical information, according to a new report from the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU AIDS Project interviewed more than 40 community-based AIDS service providers around the country.

Almost all of the providers interviewed noted some medical privacy violations. For example, in New Mexico a patient first learned that he was HIV positive from a receptionist in a full waiting room. In Fort Worth, Tex., physicians sometimes tell a family member about a person's HIV status before telling the patient, the ACLU reported.