Governor gets HIV exam bill - Need for written consent would end; more may be tested

Governor gets HIV exam bill - Need for written consent would end; more may be tested
By Jeremy Manier
Copyright © 2007, Chicago Tribune
Published June 5, 2007


In a compromise between public health forces and patients' rights activists, both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have unanimously passed a bill that drops the requirement for written consent before patients can be screened for HIV.

The bill, which the state Senate ratified Friday and Gov. Rod Blagojevich is expected to sign, should help expand the number of people tested for the deadly disease, supporters say.

An earlier version of the measure drew opposition in late April from several groups that feared it would weaken safeguards that prevent doctors from giving people HIV tests without their knowledge. But talks among lawmakers, the Illinois Department of Public Health and advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, produced a bill that eliminates hurdles to testing while increasing penalties for violating patients' privacy or right to consent.

"Some organizations really just wanted a say because they've had a stake in this issue for a long time," said the bill's original sponsor, Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago). "We pulled all the stakeholders together."

The bill reflects a national effort by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make HIV testing more routine. The CDC released new testing guidelines last year in hopes of screening all patients between ages 13 and 64.

Existing Illinois statutes, which the new bill would supersede, require written consent for all HIV tests -- a provision that put the state at odds with the CDC's new recommendations. By changing the law to conform with the CDC's guidelines, Illinois would clear a potential hurdle to obtaining the state's share of $30 million in new federal money for HIV diagnosis efforts. It also would foster testing of the estimated 10,000 state residents who are infected with HIV but don't know it.

A key provision of the bill is the doubling of financial penalties for doctors or clinics that violate patients' rights, said David Munar, associate director of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Breaches such as unauthorized disclosure of a person's HIV status or testing without consent would carry a fine of up to $10,000.

Doctors still must get verbal consent from patients or give materials that make it clear the patient is getting tested and can opt out.

A Blagojevich spokesman said the governor's office is beginning to review the bill and has not officially decided whether the governor should sign it. But Ford and Munar said it would be surprising if the governor did not support the measure given his public health agency's role in drafting it.

----------

jmanier@tribune.com