Expanding access to voluntary testing
Fighting to expand access to voluntary HIV testing
In June two competing bills to overhaul Article 27-f, the HIV testing and consent law in New York that protects the confidentiality and privacy of anyone who has been tested for or exposed to HIV, were stalled in the Assembly.
This inaction out to be a good thing because it gives AIDS advocates time to push for a better reframing of the law, which is essential to protecting the confidentiality and privacy of anyone who has been tested for or exposed to HIV. Neither bill ensured truly informed consent to HIV testing. Under the existing version of 27-f, health care providers are obligated to ask patients if they will take an HIV test, as well as provide pre- and post-test counseling.
Housing Works organized dozens of AIDS groups behind the follow principle (see “Statement of Principles”, right) and look forward to working in Albany to pass a good bill that expands access to testing for all New Yorkers, and still maintain confidentiality.
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Statement of principles
The undersigned groups share the goal of expanding the availability of HIV testing and streamlining the testing process for providers. But expanding and streamlining testing cannot come at the expense of guaranteeing informed consent. In fact, ensuring that people understand what they are being tested for and what a positive test result means in terms of treatment availability, transmission prevention, and confidentiality and antidiscrimination protections is sound public health policy. When people understand the test and its implications, they are more likely to seek treatment and engage in efforts to reduce the spread of HIV.
We believe that:
- Our goal is not testing for testing’s sake. Getting more people tested should not be an end in itself, but rather, a way to reduce the overall number of cases of HIV transmission to connect HIV-infected people with lifesaving care;
- Streamlining the HIV testing process does not require eliminating the protections that informed consent provides, and this is consistent with CDC recommendations;
- Expanding access to testing for all New Yorkers can be done by making HIV-related testing a routine part of primary care;
- It is critical that people freely choose to be tested for HIV and provide informed consent in writing prior to the test to indicate that testing is being done voluntarily;
- Informed consent means that people affirmatively choose whether or not to be tested for HIV, not that they are given the option to decline to be tested;
- People should be fully informed about the availability of anonymous testing, who will have access to the results of the test, how those results can be used and what legal protections exist to vindicate any resulting discrimination before they choose to be tested
- Existing confidentiality protections that do not operate as a barrier to testing must be retained.
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Contact
The AIDS Issues Update is written by Diana Scholl. Send thoughts and story tips to Diana at d.scholl@housingworks.org.
