Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The Associated Press Friday, 20 September 1996
Lisa Holewa, Associated Press Writer
"Somebody knows what I do and used my name, I would suggest as a personal vendetta," said William B. Calvert III, who is on paid leave pending an by the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services.
The list, on a computer disk, was sent anonymously to The Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times, with a letter saying Calvert dropped it after showing it to friends at a gay bar.
Calvert, one of three workers with access to the list, which is kept in a secured office, denied showing the list to anyone. He said he took it out of the office for field work and it was stolen.
The letter and disk also were sent to the Pinellas County Health Department, where Calvert is based, said Elaine Fulton-Jones, an HRS spokeswoman. All three disks have been turned over to law enforcement, she said.
The disk included names of people with AIDS and other personal information, including telephone numbers, addresses, dates of birth, information about how they got AIDS and other health information.
On Friday, HRS barred workers from removing confidential AIDS information from state offices, and ordered a review of confidentiality procedures.
Health workers often would take their laptop computers to doctor's offices to collect details on new AIDS patients, Fulton-Jones said. They then could to make sure the person hasn't already been entered into the database.
The AIDS data, collected by local health departments, are sent to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. Reports come into the local health unit from doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.
When the information is forwarded to the CDC, the names are removed and each case is assigned a code. Officials say the names are kept at the local level to avoid duplication.
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