March 05, 2007

California Government Worker Exposes Identities of Some HIV Patients

California state health officials apologized Friday for a mail mix-up that exposed the identities of as many as 53 Californians infected with HIV. A clerk slipped letters containing names and addresses of patients in the state's AIDS Drug Assistance Program into the wrong envelopes, causing them to be mailed Tuesday to the wrong patients, said Sandra Shewry, director of the California Department of Health Services. The program helps pay for expensive HIV/AIDS medications and serves about 30,000 Californians.

State scrambles over HIV privacy, San Jose Mercury News, March 3, 2007.