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New York, New York, July 30, 2010 – The Friends of AIDS Foundation recognizes the leadership of the Honorable Governor David Paterson, Senator Thomas K. Duane and Assemblyman Dick Gottfried in achieving a tremendous public health victory for New York communities with the new HIV testing law.The new legislation (S08227/A11487) will institute significant advances in making HIV testing routine, such as:
* Requiring the offering of an HIV test in all public (Article 28) and private health care settings thereby establishing the offer of an HIV test as the standard of care;
* Extending required offering of HIV screening to individuals ages 13-64 years old;
* Requiring that informed consent be obtained prior to performing an HIV test;
* Facilitating routine testing by permitting flexibility in how informed consent is documented where rapid technology is used;
* Providing durable consent where written consent is part of the general consent to medical care with an opt-out for HIV testing. Durable unless patient changes providers or revokes the consent;
* Requiring that when an HIV test is positive, with the patients’ consent, the person ordering the test must provide or arrange for follow-up medical care.
New York is the epicenter of this disease in the United States and each year, more than 1000 New York City residents (3 per day), are diagnosed concurrently with HIV and AIDS. Many of these individuals are late testers who have been infected for 10 years or longer, and have intersected numerous times with the health care system without being offered an HIV test. These late testers receive an AIDS diagnosis when it may be too late to fully benefit from life-extending treatments. Until this week, New York was one of only three states to have legislation in place that would hinder routine HIV testing. This new law will go into effect a few weeks after President Obama’s unveiling of the new HIV/AIDS National Strategy that focuses on prevention, HIV testing and connecting those in need of care to appropriate services.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation applauds Governor Paterson, all Senators and Assembly members who supported this legislation and thanks Senator Duane and Assemblyman Gottfried for their dedication to improving the health and well being of all New Yorkers.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
Together We Remain Strong!
