The LA HIV-in-Porn "Outbreak" Series Continues: "Patient Zero" Gets Her Turn At The Mic

Nothing says that drama in LA will ever be boring....and the continuing saga of "HIV-in-Porn Outbreak: The Series" just reached another level in excitement with the emergence of the actual "Patient Zero" into the spotlight....armed with lawyers, of course.

The story, courtesy of Courthouse News Service:

ALAMEDA, Calif. (CN) - A porn film actress whose positive HIV test made news in June claims state health officials violated her rights by demanding her medical records. Filing her complaint under the name "Patient Zero," the woman sued California OSHA and the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation.

Zero claims that after she tested positive for HIV, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health subpoenaed her health care provider for her records and personal information, in violation of her right to privacy.

She says that in June the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), which provides health care to sex workers, told her she had preliminarily tested positive for HIV. She says the Foundation quarantined her and everyone known to have had sexual contact with her, and reported her case to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

Cal/OSHA then conducted a surprise inspection of AIM and demanded the medical records of HIV patients, including Patient Zero, but AIM staff refused, she says.

After the inspection, she says, her attorney learned that Cal/OSHA was meeting with the medical facility's staff to try to get the records of patients with HIV.

She says her attorney wrote a letter asking that OSHA respect the actress's privacy when conducting the interviews. OSHA did not respond, though it confirmed receipt of the letter.

The actress says some of the news reports in June contained her true name and other identifying information. She demands damages for civil rights and constitutional violations, and violations of the health and safety code.

She is represented by Lori Rifkin and Elizabeth Gill with the American Civil Liberties Union.

Now, it's interesting to ask why AIM is a defendant in this suit of "Patient Zero", since they were probably acting under duress against their strict policy of confidentiality; and because the real threat of public outing came mostly from Cal-OSHA, the LA County Health Care officials, and (indirectly) the AIDS Health Care Foundation, which, as you all know, has been pushing just as hard for public outing of all performers involved as a means of promoting their mandatory condom usage policy.

Not so surprising, though, is the appearance of the ACLU in this; since they have been consistent on defending the rights of performers and HIV+ persons to the right of privacy and confidentiality.

As for the public outing concerns: while the one performer who was confirmed to have performed with "Patient Zero" after she was infected (and was confirmed NOT to have been infected, BTW) has been exposed to the public and has even posted in some adult message boards (per BPPA policy regarding respecting performer privacy, we will not reveal his name here), there has been nothing publically outing "P0" as of yet...and I'm sure that until she decides to reveal herself, there probably won't be any, either.

So...the saga continues.