Most of us assume our confidentiality is protected when we take an HIV test. But if you live in Michigan, don’t take that for granted.
For the past ten years, the Michigan Department of Community Health has been collecting names, birth dates, risk categories, and other details of people who get tested at publicly-funded locations, reports the American Independent (TAI)
The information, which also includes the coded identities of people whose partners are HIV-positive, is kept in a database “indefinitely.”
Authorities claim there are no names in the database, but somehow regional health departments have accessed the files and tracked down individuals they feel pose a public health threat. (According to TAI, the database has also been used as part of criminal prosecutions against people with HIV.)
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The study, authored by University of Michigan Ph.D. candidate Trevor Hoppe, found that the database has been used specifically to identify and target sexual or needle-sharing partners of newly diagnosed HIV-positive persons where the infected person may not have disclosed his or her status to partners; women who are HIV-positive and have become pregnant; and HIV-positive persons who have been diagnosed with other sexually transmitted infections.
If you knew certain details about a subject, you could access their corresponding test results. A random stranger probably couldn’t figure it out (probably), but if the district attorney wanted to convict you under Michigan’s HIV-transmission law, he could get the health department to disclose your status, when and where you found out, and other incriminating details.
Though the department tells patients their results are confidential, it has a funny definition of the word: all positive and negative results are reported to state authorities.
“Multiple state-certified HIV testers confirmed with TAI that they are taught in mandatory certification training to tell clients that testing information is kept confidential but not to mention that the information is collected and maintained by the state.”
Michigan isn’t the only state to use an identity-based coding system, but not every state does. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says it only requires anonymous demographic information for grant-reporting purposes.
Chad Hunt
That is despicable. I smell a class action lawsuit coming on.
Scribe38
Another reason I hate this red-state-want-to-be mitten. My doctor explained this to me a little while ago (he serves mostly with gay men), suggesting that I shouldn’t use my health insurance for testing, but pay cash. He told me he didn’t have post the results if I paid cash. I’m not sure is it just the way he does things or is it the rule state wide. Now I just use the rapid-home test-35 bucks, 10mins or so done.
vklortho
I really really dislike my state at times. It’s a red state at heart but a few very large cities are populated enough to make Michigan go blue for national elections. I remember there was an article on the internet somewhere that broke down LGBT rights by state and Michigan was tied for the bottom 3 with Mississippi and Utah. 🙁