Washington Blade - September 17, 2004

BALTIMORE (AP) - The system for monitoring medical labs

nationwide is falling under more scrutiny after flawed testing for HIV and other diseases affected thousands of people at two Maryland labs. Inspectors have found severe problems in lab testing at Maryland General Hospital and Reference Pathology Services of Maryland in Rosedale. Critics say reforms in 1992 rely too heavily on industry organizations to handle inspections. That, they say, allows cozy relationships between lab surveyors and those they inspect. They also contend it places too much emphasis on documents while ignoring the workers who carry out the tests. The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, private inspection agencies and others are discussing the matter, according to Thomas Hamilton, who oversees federal government certification of labs. One of the nation's largest private inspection agencies, the College of American Pathologists, oversaw the Maryland General and Reference Pathology labs.

Dallas newspaper sued over identifying HIV-positive man

DALLAS (AP) - A church volunteer is suing an alternative weekly newspaper for up to $1.1 billion in damages, charging the publication violated a Texas law when it reported that he is HIV-positive without getting his permission. The Dallas Observer identified the man in a December article about a preacher who led the Cathedral of Hope, a once-booming gay and lesbian church in Dallas that has struggled with financial problems, internal strife and a steep decline in membership. The man doesn't dispute that he has the virus that causes AIDS, but he contends the newspaper broke a state law that forbids disclosure of medical test results without a patient's written consent, except to government health agencies. Defense attorneys say the privacy law cited by the man applies to hospitals and insurance companies, not media organizations.

Texas groups wage fight over sex ed in textbooks

AUSTIN (AP) - Social conservatives and sex education advocates are clashing head-on in the debate of what Texas public school students should learn from their health textbooks. This week, the state Board of Education was to hold the final public hearing on which books will be used in the 2005-06 school year, replacing 11-year-old materials now being used. The hearing has sparked a new round of debate over what's too sexy to be in the classroom and whether abstinence-only or lessons in contraception are the better policy. The "Protect Our Kids Campaign," a group of sex education advocates ranging from Planned Parenthood to the Texas State Teachers Association, last week released results of a recent poll that showed 90 percent of adult Texans favor teaching "age-appropriate, medically accurate sex education that includes information on abstinence, birth control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV." Social conservative organizations, such as Texans for Life and the Texas Eagle Forum, disagree. They scheduled an "abstinence only" news conference in Austin before the state board meeting.

More cuts likely in Ark. AIDS medication-assistance program

LITTLE ROCK (AP) - A program that helps pay costs of medications for uninsured and underinsured Arkansans who have the virus that causes AIDS may have to make more cuts to avoid running out of money before the year ends. The federally funded AIDS Drug Assistance Program began in April an effort to reduce the amount of money being spent by capping the number of people ADAP could serve. Since that time, program administrators at the state health department, which runs the program, started a waiting list and lowered the cap to allow even fewer clients. Then in late summer they started preparing to cut the number of medications offered through ADAP. Jerry Jones, an infectious diseases service unit leader at the health department, said ADAP is introducing a tiered system - essentially allowing them to prioritize which drugs can be cut first. No date has been set for cuts to take effect.

N.M. county sees spike in AIDS and HIV cases

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - The number of newly diagnosed cases of HIV and AIDS has increased in Bernalillo County. "Albuquerque is another American city that appears to be experiencing a new rise in HIV cases. That should cause us to redouble our efforts for HIV prevention, in Bernalillo County especially," said Dr. Steve Jenison, medical director for the STD-reproductive health clinic in Albuquerque's public health offices. For the last few years, the number of new HIV and AIDS cases in New Mexico had been about 100 per year, with 30 or 40 deaths, according to Lily Foster, HIV-AIDS surveillance coordinator with the state Department of Health. Last year, 116 new cases were reported in the state, along with 60 deaths, she said. But the number has increased over the last three years in Bernalillo County, Foster said. Officials say it's possible that a new generation of gay men may be less likely to use all prevention methods because they haven't seen their friends dying of AIDS, which is managed better with current drugs.

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