Blog #4 Where is HIPPAA?

Hello fellow bloggers,

In this week's blog, I want to talk about the possibility of losing confidentiality of HIV status in any environment not only in the university setting. I'll give you a little tid bit from my own personal experience with this issue. In the early 80's when HIV was considered the 'gay cancer', my half-brother was in jail. (I am only sharing this with you because he's deceased and it sheds a little light to the broader affects breaking confidentiality might have.) My half-brother was no stranger to getting in trouble, he was very flamboyantly gay, and was a drug user. During one of his short stints in jail, the local news was airing a story about the prison population who had contracted HIV the 'gay cancer' and lo and behold my half-brothers name pops in ticker form along the bottom of the screen. Now it just so happened that both my parents and I were up watching the news. As soon as they read the screen my dad's face turned white and my mom dropped her crochet on her lap. I sat there all confused as I watched my dad cry as he read his son's name scroll across the T.V. That is how we found out my brother had contracted HIV. My half-brother passed away only eleven years ago, but he fought a good fight. He cleaned up his act after that incident and found himself a very nice man, who also was positive and they lived together for many years until his life-partner passed a few years before him.

Now I'll fast forward to the present and the future if confidentiality becomes a thing of yesterdays. The impact this had on my family and what it would do to so many other families is inconceivable and irreparably damaging. These are memories I don't wish upon anyone. I can only imagine what my half-brother was thinking because I'm sure he didn't find out until he was in the jail population and the emotional damage it caused all of his sexual partners or encounters. If this disease didn't kill him I'm sure one of them wanted to. We're lucky enough now to have laws that protect our civil rights and thank God we do have these to give us the sense of security that no one can disclose what we hold sacred. Our health being one of them. Our health status is of no one's concern other than those we choose to share it with and the doctors who treat us. If medical confidentiality is compromised in our day to day lives, whether in schools or otherwise, what do you think the impact would be on our society? Choosing to share ones own secrets as long as we don't hinder the health of others should be respected and not challenged.

However, intentionally spreading HIV while knowing ones status is morally and ethically wrong. I learned that criminal charges can assessed and the guilty party would die behind bars all the while spreading the disease to other inmates. This happened to a Uganda man who worked in Canada in 2003.

Did you know that on August 30, 2003, a man by the name of Johnson Aziga was arrested for intentionally passing on the HIV virus to unsuspecting women. He was charged with first degree murder on two counts, ten charges of sexually aggravated assault, and one count of attempted aggravated sexual assault. (amren.com) Other women came forward later but this story brings up two issues. One being the obvious divulging one status voluntarily or face the consequence and women in society who are persuaded into thinking that their health is secondary to a man's pleasure. When will women in this world wake up and smell the coffee? We have to take our health into our own hands and having a man or woman persuade us into sex without proper precautions can get us a ticket on the disease train. The story brings up race as a possible reason for spreading Aziga's HIV, but really? Its sad that people still see race as the reason for so many societal issues and it doesn't look like there is a respite in the near future either.

Its a bit ironic how my half-brother found out his HIV status behind bars without confidentiality, but lived a good life anyway and this guy's positive status awarded him an 8' by 10' cell for spreading the disease because he kept it confidential. I'm really shaking my head at this point.

Until next week fellow bloggers

laterz

works cited:

News stories involving HIV positive people. (April 6, 2009). American Renaissance.com website. Retrieved on September 29, 2009 from http://www.amren.com/mtnews/archives/2009/04/hiv-positive_ma.php

Summary of the HIPPAA Privacy Rule. (May 2003). Privacy summary. United States Department of Health website. Retrieved September 29, 2009 from
http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html