| Abstract: | The New York Senate approved a bill requiring public health officials to notify spouses, sexual partners, and needle-sharing partners of HIV-positive people, that they have been exposed to the virus. Under S. 4422-A, physicians are required to report HIV-positive patients, by name, to the State Department of Health, so as to begin the process of partner notification and statewide HIV case surveillance. AIDS activists consider the new law coercive and less effective than growing programs that reinforce safer-sex messages. The current notification system, which allows the physician or patient the option of notifying the State Health Department, has sometimes been assessed as a failure. A compromise is being considered that involves telling the State Department the names of the partners to contact, while protecting the confidentiality of the HIV-positive patient by assigning the patient a unique identifier number. This would allow tracking of the HIV surveillance data, without comprising the confidentiality of the HIV-positive patient. |
