United Press International - Thursday, December 6, 1990

Bradenton police charged the woman with attempted murder last week, claiming she offered to perform oral sex on an informant even though she knew she was infected with the virus linked to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

Police said they based that charge on a secret, informal list maintained by city emergency squad workers of people who told them they had AIDS.

However, the woman told a nurse at the county jail that she had been voluntarily tested in June at Manatee County's state-run public health unit. With the suspect's consent, the nurse verified the information with the health unit, said Dave Bristow, spokesman for the Manatee County Sheriff's Department.

"Sure enough, she tested negative," Bristow said.

"That kind of sheds a new light on it," said Fire Chief Gene Gallo, whose employees maintained the secret AIDS list. "If she doesn't have it, we haven't broken any confidentiality laws."

Rescue squad workers still may have broken the law by keeping the list and making the woman's name available to police, said Jeff Peters, president of the Florida Bar's AIDS Legal Defense Fund.

He cited "perception language" added to confidentiality laws on AIDS last year to protect people from becoming victims of rumors.

Police officials couldn't be reached for comment on the latest developments. Prosecutors said they hadn't received information on the case from police and were unable to say whether they would pursue it.

Meanwhile, a Tallahassee doctor who sits on a state AIDS committee said the sort of list the Fire Department maintained represents a kind of witch hunt.

"That practice is reprehensible," Dr. Terence McCoy said. "It is very desirable to know who has AIDS for the public health service, but not for every Tom, Dick or Harry."

Other emergency rescue officials said their agencies don't keep similar lists, because of confidentiality laws and because they didn't see how they would be useful.

"If we had one, it wouldn't exist very long, because it's an infringement on civil rights," said Chief William Drymon of the Sarasota County Fire Department.

Hillsborough County Emergency Medical Services manager Ken Miller said his agency isn't even sure whether confidentiality allows dispatchers to announce over the radio that they're sending an ambulance on a run to a possible AIDS patient.

It is not known what happened to the Bradenton list. Gallo said that when he asked about it, emergency workers told him the list had disappeared. The list was not an official department record, and Gallo said he learned of it only on Monday.

Bristow said there were plans to have the woman tested again for human immuno-deficiency virus, or HIV, the virus linked to acquired immune deficiency syndrome.

She has remained in jail on $10 bail for the attempted murder and $200 for the prostitution charge.
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