Taiwanese Response to Leaking HIV Patient Data: Oopsies!

Usually you have to be a famous celebrity and get treatment at a Los Angeles area hospital to have your medical records leaked, but for the HIV-afflicted in Taiwan, simple carelessness by public health workers will do it. The negligent handling of private health data led to a one Hsiao Pan (a pseudonym), who is HIV-positive, being kicked out of his house after his father received in the mail Hsiao’s notice of a conscription waiver — even though Hsiao specifically requested the information be held for in-person pick up. He and another man who were outed to parents as having HIV/AIDS received apologizes from the Conscription Agency. And little else. Those accused of the egregious paper shuffling tried arguing parents were entitled to know about their children’s health, though none have been fined under a patient privacy law.