 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Johnetta J. v. Municipal Court for San Francisco Judicial District3/20/1990
rictly speaking, it is not a Fourth Amendment issue. Proposition 96 permits disclosure of petitioner's test results to herself, the deputy she assaulted, real party as the deputy's employer and, if HIV-positive, the State Department of Health Services. (§§ 199.97, 199.98, subd. (c).) After testing, "The court shall order all persons, other than the test subject, who receive test results" pursuant to section 199.97, "to maintain the confidentiality of personal identifying data relating to the test results except for disclosure which may be necessary to obtain medical or psychological care or advice." (§ 199.98, subd. (e).)
Petitioner fears this disclosure is too widespread. She argues that the exemption for disclosure necessary to obtain medical or psychological care or advice would allow disclosure to persons not before the court and thus not subject to contempt sanctions to enforce nondisclosure. Although petitioner's concerns are well-grounded in the light of the problem of AIDS discrimination, she reads the disclosure provisions too narrowly. The voters clearly intended that the test results be kept in maximum secrecy and disclosed only to those directly involved and those to whom information must be disclosed to obtain needed medical or psychological treatment -- and to no others. It is the essence of California decisions on the privacy of medical information that only a compelling state interest can justify disclosure. (See, e.g., Wood v. Superior Court (1985) 166 Cal. App. 3d 1138 [212 Cal. Rptr. 811].) Persons may justifiably receive information from the deputy or the deputy's employer in order to render needed medical care, but those persons are by virtue of section 199.98 barred from in turn disclosing the information outside of the needed-treatment context. The
statutory disclosure provisions are strict and do not render the Proposition 96 blood testing more than a minimal Fourth Amendment intrusion.
This is not to say, however, that Skinner, by ruling individualized suspicion is not a "constitutional floor," has relegated blood testing in in all cases to the "bargain basement" of the Fourth Amendment where minimal intrusions may be made by the government without probable cause. Certainly a statute mandating blood testing for AIDS of the entire population, or as a precondition for certain rights or privileges unrelated to AIDS infection and not connected to furthering a serious governmental need, would raise serious -- and perhaps insurmountable -- constitutional objections. Proposition 96, however, is the progeny of a substantial "special need" recognized by the electorate and justifying relaxation of the normal Fourth Amendment requirement of individualized suspicion.
As noted above, the doctrine of "special need" evades clear definition. The decisions which find such a need generally deal with special circumstances involving an increased or enhanced governmental need of control or regulation, such as probation supervision or, as in Skinner, the need to prohibit the hazardous use of alcohol or drugs in the operation of railroads, an industry pervasively regulated because of the need for human safety. Real party argues for a "special need" in this case because of the compelling interest of local government in protecting the health and safety of its employees faced with the possibility of becoming infected with HIV in the line of duty. Real party notes the voters have found that peace officers and other public safety employees, when assaulted or otherwise interfered with in the performance of their duties, face the possibility of a frightening fatal infection. Under these unusual circumstances, argues real party, the
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 California DUI Attorneys
DUI Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to DUI Lawyers in your area.
|
|