Virginia Code 32.1-36.1: Confidentiality of test for human immunodeficiency virus; civil penalty; individual action for damages or penalty
A. The results of every test to determine infection with human immunodeficiency virus shall be confidential. Such information may be released only to persons or entities permitted or authorized to obtain protected health information under any applicable federal or state law.
Terms Used In Virginia Code 32.1-36.1
- City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, or association or any other legal entity. See Virginia Code 32.1-3
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
B. In any action brought under this section, if the court finds that a person has willfully or through gross negligence made an unauthorized disclosure in violation of this section, the Attorney General, any attorney for the Commonwealth, or any attorney for the county, city or town in which the violation occurred may recover for the Literary Fund, upon petition to the court, a civil penalty of not more than $5,000 per violation.
C. Any person who is the subject of an unauthorized disclosure pursuant to this section shall be entitled to initiate an action to recover actual damages, if any, or $100, whichever is greater. In addition, such person may also be awarded reasonable attorney’s fees and court costs.
D. This section shall not be deemed to create any duty on the part of any person who receives such test results, where none exists otherwise, to release the results to a person listed herein as authorized to receive them.
1989, c. 613; 1990, c. 777; 1993, cc. 97, 664; 2017, c. 178.