Felt harassed by the Texas health department

[Peacedj]

I tested poz using an at home kit a few months ago.  I made an appointment with an ID doctor and after my first appointment the Texas health department started sending people to my apartment a few times a week to knock on my door and also tape notices to my door to contact them about my urgent "health matter".  I finally gave in and called them in an attempt to get them to stop coming to my apartment.

When I called it appeared that my doctor shared my test results with them.  The person on the phone at the health department made me very uncomfortable and the questions he was asking were perverse and very inappropriate.  When I refused to answer some of them the man took on a threatening tone and said his supervisor would not be happy and they would be in contact with me again until I answered his questions.  I found the conversation so distburbing that I'm considering moving to Arizona to hide from them.

Anyone else have issues with the health department like this?

[Jim Allen]

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear your having a rough time with the health department.
I am presuming its a notifiable illness in Texas and hence the follow-up and questions. I am not from US so I would not like to presume but i am sure someone will chime in with more information and clarity soon.

However the questions should not be perverse in nature as far as I know, its more for tracking/statistics and in some cases partner notification efforts etc i would imagine .

Did the person that you spoke to mention why they were asking question?

Jim

[Peacedj]

He did not offer any reasons why he asking the questions.  Before he started he only said that his questions might be odd in nature but he needed my responses to them.  He just came off as hostile when I became uncomfortable and told him I wanted to terminate any further conversation with him.

[zach]

  keep your guard up    don't let them scare you if that is the tactic they take

it can go either with way them, on the one hand they can be helpful suggesting resources that are available to you, anonymously contacting partners that may have been exposed

on the other hand, they can be the spanish inquisition. you mention a threatening tone and supervisor involvement

know this, your doctor was required to report, the local health department is required to follow up, but you are NOT required to speak to them at all

you may miss those possible benefits, or you may also dodge a bunch of judgemental assholes

i also live in the south, i've had unpleasant dealings with a local health department as well

arizona? it's a dry heat this time of year. but don't let this experience uproot your life and run you out town as a sodomite witch. if you need to, tell them to fuck off and just carry on with your life.

[leatherman]

it's known as contract-tracing and is done in all states for all major STIs including HIV. Not only does the state health dept contact all people diagnosed with these transmissible diseases to make sure they understand the ways to spot the spread of these diseases, but it's gets many people into treatment. With a list of that person's sexual contacts, the health dpt is able to anonymously reach out to others who are possibly infected and get them tested and into treatment also.


ALL states have hiv-reporting
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparetable.jsp?cat=11&ind=559

For more info, google up "partner notification laws", "std contact tracing" or "hiv contact tracing" and learn how its actually an HIV prevention method along with getting the infected into treatment

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00000042.htm
Current Trends Partner Notification for Preventing Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Infection -- Colorado, Idaho, South Carolina, Virginia

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_n2596_v123/ai_16399937/
"Why the opposition to AIDS contact tracing?"

http://std.about.com/od/prevention/f/contacttracing.htm
Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphilis and TB management also includes contact tracing

http://www.cdc.gov/hiv/topics/surveillance/reporting.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/std/treatment/2006/clinical.htm
http://www.aclu.org/lgbt-rights_hiv-aids/hiv-partner-notification-why-coercion-wont-work

[leatherman]

He just came off as hostile

sadly to him, this was another horrible part of his job when he had to interview someone else infected by HIV. Probably daily, this guy drives around the county making sure people who have tested positive understand HIV and its consequences. they meet all sorts of people, who are often hostile or confused, when all they want to do is make sure you understand about transmission and whether you are entering treatment. He'll then take your list of contacts and send out notices that those people need to get tested. often those notices result in someone else getting tested and diagnosed positive and then his job starts all over again with yet another person

I don't say that to excuse the hostility; but I know some of these health dpt peeps in the state I live in through my volunteer work with the state level Ryan White programs and the state health dpt. They work really hard at a hard job - often a job tinged with politics based on whatever the current administration's party beliefs are.  Some of these people are nice and yet some are bastards. It's the luck of the draw