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HIV document not only concerns with Ingham County Health Department

Capitol Correspondent

LANSING–The controversial HIV document officials from the Ingham County Health Department have been asking HIV infected persons in the county to sign is not the only issue of concern with the department's handling of information about HIV infected persons in the county.
In responses to questions from Between the Lines last week, ICHD Deputy Health Officer Renee Canady said the controversial document, then called a contract and since renamed a legal notification, was kept in the individual HIV counseling charts of persons with HIV. The document included the name of the person who has been diagnosed with HIV infection.
Asked under what statutory authority the charts would be authorized, Michigan Department of Community Health spokesperson TJ Bulcohlz said, "There is none."
A spokesperson for the Governor's office told BTL that Bulcohlz's public statements reflected the position of the Granholm administration.
State law strictly prohibits local health departments from keeping a roster of names of persons infected with HIV. The law does allow the department to keep files containing the test results of HIV positive individuals, but each file is supposed to be numerically coded to protect the identity of the patient.
State law also allows the local health department to collect the names of sexual and needle sharing partners of HIV infected persons and to keep those names and contact information on file for 90 days. The law also mandates the health department make contact with those who may have been exposed within 35 days of receiving the names or contact information. All of this is done as part of partner notification procedures to help identify those who may have been exposed.
"If a roster is by definition a list, and the files could be summarized into a list at any time, then there could be a roster made at anytime," said Kendra Kleber, a Royal Oak attorney specializing in HIV law. "For them to say we are not keeping a roster, a list, we are just keeping files; that seems to me to be in violation of certainly the spirit of the law, if not the letter of it."
ICHD maintains it does not keep a roster of names of persons infected with HIV, and says the charts are kept in a locked filing cabinet in a secure location at the department. Access is limited to specific staff. Aside from the positive test results and the legal notification document, it is unknown at this time as to what information is being kept in the individual charts.
"I think if there holding documents in any kind of structure without authority to do it, then the plan to destroy them would probably be appropriate. Since this could conceivably turn into litigation, it would look really bad. They should probably seal them and give them to their legal counsel," Kleber said.
"The department is working with the state on how to handle these files. Because there is a requirement that they notify the persons with HIV of their legal obligations, and they need to have something to work from. How the files are handled and how long we are waiting for further guidance from the state," said Timothy Perrone, an attorney representing the ICHD for the firm of Cole, Stoker, Goskey, McGlinchey of Lansing.
The County Board of Commissioners will take up the issue at its Sept. 17 at its Committee on Human Services. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. in the Ingham County Human Services Building.

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