Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1996. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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The Associated Press - Wednesday, 9 October 1996.
Evan Perez, Associated Press Writer
William Calvert is accused of taking computer disks listing nearly 4,000 patients to a gay bar and offering to look up names for friends.
The allegations, however, have heightened concerns about the security of supposedly confidential health records in state custody. Until two weeks ago state health workers were allowed to remove files from their offices.
Although Calvert acknowledged using the database for personal reference, he contends he did nothing wrong. His alleged disclosure of the list is under investigation by the state Department of Law Enforcement.
Copies of the computer disk and an anonymous letter implicating him turned up three weeks ago at two Tampa Bay area newspapers and the Pinellas County Health Department, where Calvert had been a program manager since 1992.
Calvert, a state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services worker since 1988, has been on paid leave since the database leak was publicized. He has a right to appeal his firing, but neither Calvert nor his attorney returned calls seeking comment Wednesday.
In an interview Monday with HRS investigators, Calvert said he used the database as a personal dating reference. "I used the information if I was dating someone," he said, according to a transcript of the interview.
An acquaintance of Calvert's told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he heard Calvert warn friends about dates who Calvert said were on the county's AIDS database.
"He'd say, `Don't bother with him, he's on the list,'" said the man, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "He claims I'm on the list. I've had people interested in me and then back away because he's talked to them."
Calvert told investigators he regularly took home a laptop computer and the AIDS list, and acknowledged that this practice defeated the password protection used to keep the files confidential.
He told investigators he had no concerns because he always reinforced the need for confidentiality with his roommate, Gregory Wentz, who also is his partner in the funeral home business where they live.
AIDS patient advocates have cited the database leak as proof of the dangers of allowing the state to keep names of HIV and AIDS patients.
A state law that was to take effect in January would require health workers to report to the state the names of HIV patients. HRS put the law on hold after the disk was leaked.
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