San Franciso Chronicle - Saturday, June 3, 2006
Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

The health department does not know how many people received the old forms, which tell clients that their test results will be assigned a code number, not clients' names. Roughly 400 people have been tested for HIV at the clinic since the law was signed into law, but health department officials said the vast majority of them got the correct form.

No names have yet been provided to the public health department, and clients who received the old forms will be contacted by health officials and asked if their names may be reported, said Dr. Mitch Katz, director of public health. Test results will remain anonymous for clients who do not want their names reported, Katz said.

"When the law changed, we did change the consent forms, and we started using the new correct form," Katz said. "But at some point, rooms are restocked as the forms run out, and the person restocking accidentally put in the wrong form."

Katz learned of the mistake Friday, when the ACLU released a letter sent to the public health department pointing out that the wrong forms were being used and demanding that they be replaced and that clients be notified.

The ACLU had received a tip from a man who was given the wrong form when he was tested at the City Clinic.

The man, who has asked to remain anonymous because he is HIV-positive, said he got the test because he wanted to check up on privacy practices at the clinic after the state law passed April 17.

"Providing forms with this kind of false information gets out in the community, and people start worrying about getting tested," said Tamara Lange, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California. "Obviously our concern is that this mistake be handled very quickly."

Under the new law, the names of people who test positive for HIV are collected by the public health department and held by the state in a secure computer. The names must be collected to guarantee federal funding in AIDS assistance.

ACLU officials said they have been monitoring San Francisco testing clinics for several weeks, ever since a public health official announced plans to do away with written consent practices and pretest counseling at public testing sites.

Katz said that official was incorrect in his announcement.

He said pretest counseling is still required in most cases, and while written consent forms for HIV tests were dropped at San Francisco General Hospital, by law they are mandatory at clinics that specialize in testing for sexually transmitted diseases.

E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.
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