
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993                   TAG: 9308310276
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

AIDS PATIENT CLAIMS CO-WORKERS SNOOPED INTO RECORDS

A man with the AIDS virus is suing a health-care company for violating his privacy by allegedly allowing his co-workers to tap into computer files detailing his condition.

The 28-year-old man filed the lawsuit Aug. 18 in Circuit Court. The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star of Norfolk declined to identify the man to protect his privacy, though his name appears on public court documents involved in the suit.

He claims that while he was a patient at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in January, co-workers at Sentara Health System's corporate office tapped into a hospital computer and learned that he had HIV, the virus which causes AIDS.

The man told the newspaper that his doctor did not tell him he had the HIV virus until two days later. He said that after he was released from the hospital, a co-worker told him other employees had snooped into his computer records and were spreading news of his condition.

The man claims that letting co-workers see his records violated his right to confidentiality, may hurt his chances for career advancement and has affected his relationship with co-workers. He seeks $25,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages.

The lawsuit raises what was, until now, an unspoken rule, said Virginia K. Shema, the employee's attorney. No law in Virginia requires patient-doctor confidentiality, even though "everyone assumes that is the case," she said.

by CNB