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UK Health Clinic Accidentally Publishes HIV Status of 800 Patients
An anonymous reader writes: A sexual health clinic in London accidentally disclosed the HIV positive status of almost 800 patients. The Guardian reports: "The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has ordered an inquiry into how the NHS handles confidential medical information after the “completely unacceptable” breach of the privacy of hundreds of HIV patients. The 56 Dean Street clinic in London apologized on Wednesday after sending a newsletter on Tuesday which disclosed the names and email addresses of about 780 recipients. The newsletter is intended for people using its HIV and other sexual health services, and gives details of treatments and support.
I don't understand why this information should be kept private. HIV is highly communicable under certain circumstances. Having a registry of people infected with HIV would allow people to avoid the type of contact that can spread HIV with infected persons. It would also allow people to identify if they may have contracted HIV because they had sexual relations with someone who has HIV. This might allow those people to receive treatment earlier and prevent them from further spreading HIV. If there's a disease that has no cure at present and is highly contagious under certain conditions, don't people have a right to know who's infected so they can do what's necessary to avoid contracting that disease? I'm all for privacy of medical records when you're not putting people at risk of contracting a dangerous and currently incurable disease. But in this instance, there's a strong public safety interest that these records shouldn't be private anyway.