(h.1) The Department of Public Health may disclose AIDS confidential information regarding a person who has been reported, under paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (h), to be infected with HIV to a health care provider licensed pursuant to Chapter 11, 26, or 34 of Title 43 whom that person has consulted for medical treatment or advice.
and, for purposes of this subsection, the term “petitioner for disclosure” means any person or legal entity specified in subparagraph (A), (B), or (C) of this paragraph.
(A) The name and address of that patient;
(B) That such patient has been determined to be infected with HIV; and
(aa) In connection with any judicial proceeding in which AIDS confidential information is disclosed as authorized or required by this Code section, the party to whom that information is thereby disclosed may subpoena any person to authenticate such AIDS confidential information, establish a chain of custody relating thereto, or otherwise testify regarding that information, including, but not limited to, testifying regarding any notifications to the patient regarding results of an HIV test. The provisions of this subsection shall apply to records, personnel, or both of the Department of Public Health or a county board of health notwithstanding Code Section 50-18-72, but only as to test results obtained by a prosecutor under subsection (q) of this Code section and to be used thereby in a prosecution for reckless conduct under subsection (c) of Code Section 16-5-60.
(bb) AIDS confidential information may be disclosed as a part of any proceeding or procedure authorized or required pursuant to Chapter 3, 4, or 7 of Title 37, regarding a person who is alleged to be or who is mentally ill, developmentally disabled, or alcoholic or drug dependent, or as a part of any proceeding or procedure authorized or required pursuant to Title 29, regarding the guardianship of a person or that person’s estate, as follows:
History. Code 1981, § 24-12-21 , enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24; Ga. L. 2012, p. 775, § 24/HB 942; Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 4-42/HB 242; Ga. L. 2014, p. 814, § 1/SB 342; Ga. L. 2015, p. 598, § 1A-1/HB 72; Ga. L. 2016, p. 735, § 5/HB 1058.
The 2012 amendment, effective May 1, 2012, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, deleted “as” following “shall apply” in the second sentence of subsection (aa).
The 2013 amendment, effective January 1, 2014, substituted “Code Section 15-11-603” for “Code Section 15-11-66.1” in subsection (q). See editor’s note for applicability.
The 2014 amendment, effective July 1, 2014, added subsection (h.1).
The 2015 amendment, effective July 1, 2015, in paragraph (s)(1), deleted “or” at the end of subparagraph (A) and added subparagraph (s)(1)(C).
The 2016 amendment, effective July 1, 2016, in subsection (c), substituted “an incompetent person, to that person’s” for “a minor or incompetent person, to that person’s parent or”, and added the last sentence.
Cross references.
Child committing delinquent act constituting AIDS transmission crime including testing and reporting, § 15-11-603 .
Code Commission notes.
Pursuant to Code Section 28-9-5, in 2013, “Department of Public Health” was substituted for “Department of Community Health” throughout subsection (h), in subparagraph (t)(1)(C), paragraph (t)(8), subsection (x), and in the last sentence of subsection (aa).
Editor’s notes.
Ga. L. 2013, p. 294, § 5-1/HB 242, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “This Act shall become effective on January 1, 2014, and shall apply to all offenses which occur and juvenile proceedings commenced on and after such date. Any offense occurring before January 1, 2014, shall be governed by the statute in effect at the time of such offense and shall be considered a prior adjudication for the purpose of imposing a disposition that provides for a different penalty for subsequent adjudications, of whatever class, pursuant to this Act. The enactment of this Act shall not affect any prosecutions for acts occurring before January 1, 2014, and shall not act as an abatement of any such prosecutions.”
Administrative rules and regulations.
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, Official Compilation of the Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia, Department of Human Resources, Public Health, Chapter 290-5-48.
Law reviews.
For article on the 2015 amendment of this Code section, see 32 Ga. St. U.L. Rev. 63 (2015).
For comment, “Confidentiality and Dissemination of Personal Information: An Examination of State Laws Governing Data Protection,” see 41 Emory L.J. 1185 (1992).