Government of Tennessee Releases Information on HIV-Positive Residents

Due to a government mistake, the identity of HIV-positive people in Tennessee was disseminated in a database accessible to all government employees in the state.

According to the New York Post database The private medical information was only supposed to be seen by three scientists employed by the government. However, more than 500 Government of Tennessee employees have access to it for nine months.

The so-called private database containing the names, lab results and social security numbers of patients living with HIV was discovered on a shared computer server, a server accessible to any employee or official of the United States. # 39; agency.

Metro Health officials told a state newspaper, The Tennessean, that they did not think the database was incorrect. Opened for nine months, it was on the shared server because there is at least some evidence that the file has never been touched. "

The officials, however, remain unsure of what might have happened, adding that" An employee could have copied the information. on a USB drive without anyone knowing it because of a server audit feature that remains inactive. "

Officials would have first noticed that the database was connected or shared to a server that was open two months ago,

Meanwhile, residents of Tennessee living with are concerned that such a major mistake has occurred, fearing for the state and the future of their jobs, health insurance and families.

Brady Dale Morris, a HIV-positive man, said The Tennessean "They know that if this information fell into the wrong hands, they could lose their family."

Shocked, Morris continued, "They could lose their jobs. They could lose their insurance. They could lose their homes. They could be expelled from their church. There are all kinds of implications and ramifications – being HIV positive goes into every nook and cranny of our existence. "

While the Tennessee Department of Health has not yet conducted its own investigation, Metro Health examined the incident and found no faulty employees up to here.

CARES Nashville Public Policy Director Larry Frampton filed a HIPAA complaint against the federal government at the Following this news, Frampton commented, "I think it will be a dry and dry affair."

"It's obviously a violation of the HIPAA law," he continued. is sitting on an unprotected server and no one has noticed it for nine months. No matter who could have obtained it. "