MDCH reverses position on HIV documents

The Michigan Department of Community Health has announced it will advise local health departments using a controversial client acknowledgment form to change them.

“We believe advocates have raised some valid points. As such, we will be advising local health departments that if they are going to use client acknowledgment forms to advise clients of Michigan law – and there is nothing saying they must use such forms – they need to quote the law,” said Kelly Niebel, acting spokesperson for MDCH in an e-mail statement to Michigan Messenger. “It also is recommended that they have their respective legal counsel review any such forms prior to using them.”

Ingham County reviewed its documents in 2007 when similar concerns and complaints came to light. State health officials then said the documents were “unnecessary.” The officials there decided to stop using their form, called a “contract,” and instead have HIV counselors note that he or she informed the client of Michigan’s disclosure law. Informing a newly diagnosed HIV-positive person of the state law is a requirement of Michigan’s Public Health Act.

The forms have come under increasing scrutiny and criticism since Michigan Messenger reported on them Monday. Attorneys, experts and authorities on HIV disclosure and disability issues have said the documents are “concerning” and likely “illegal.” Civil rights officials announced they were looking at the documents for possible discrimination issues on Wednesday.

The forms came to light when they were released to Messenger in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from early January. Also included in the documents were a series of e-mails and a memo from April of 2008 from HIV/AIDS Prevention and Intervention Section (HAPIS) staff of MDCH questioning the legality of parts of the document. In response to those concerns, MDCH attorney Denise Chrysler emailed Bob Barrie in HAPIS to indicate the documents’ declaration that HIV positive people forever engage in protected sex for the remainder of their lives was legally justified.

In spite of e-mails and a memo stating, “We need a legal opinion abut the use of a form for HIV infected clients, and whether it violates,” parts of the Michigan Public Health Code, Niebel says the opinion from Chrysler is not a legal opinion.

“Apparently Denise Chrysler’s e-mail was in response to a telephone conversation as she indicated in her e-mail,” said Niebel. “Her opinion was not intended to be formal legal advice to any health department, including Macomb County, nor was it intended to present a legal position or interpretation of the department.”

Equality Michigan, an advocacy and education group dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, praised the announcement from the MDCH.

“The Michigan Department of Community Health should be applauded for recognizing an injustice and promptly addressing it. To do so takes courage and wisdom. Too often government digs its heels in and refuses to admit fault or change paths,” said Emily Dievendorf, policy director of Equality Michigan. “Equality depends on the kind of responsibility MDCH exhibited today. Even with this victory, Equality Michigan encourages individuals affected by the inaccuracies of current and past county health disclosure forms to come forward and report any wrongs that may now be righted.”

The group called for investigations by state and federal civil rights authorities Tuesday night, and Wednesday announced it was filing formal complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights over the use o the documents. Dievendorf said the group intend to file the complaints in spite of the MDCH statement.

“We will continue to pursue the filing of complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights in response to already identified individual cases of possible discrimination in Michigan counties,” said Dievendorf.