N.Y. Pub. Health Law § 2783 - Penalties for Disclosure of HIV-Related Information

This law sets forth the following penalties:

1. Any person who performs or makes some perform an HIV test in violation of § 2781 (discussing in detail the requirements to obtain informed consent in order to perform this test) shall be subject to civil penalty of not more than $5000 for each occurrence.
2. Any person who discloses or compels another person to disclose confidential HIV-related information in violation of § 2782 shall be subject to civil penalty of not more than $5000 for each occurrence.
3. Any person who willfully commits one of the above two acts as stated in (1) and (2) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to penalties in § 12-b.

The law shields physicians, their employees, their agents, health facilities and health care providers from criminal sanction or civil liability when:

1. They fail to disclose confidential HIV-related information to a contact or person legally authorized to consent to health care on behalf of the protected individual
2. They disclose confidential HIV-related information to a contact or person legally authorized to consent to health care on behalf of the protected individual, as long as disclosure is in compliance with the law
3. They disclose confidential HIV-related information to any person/agency/officer authorized to receive such information, when carried out in good faith and without malice, and when done in compliance with the law
4. The Municipal health commissioner or district health officer fails to notify contacts as required by the law.

 
The law states that any cause of action to recover damages based on someone's failure to provide information/explanation/counseling prior to their executing a written informed consent, or based on lack of informed consent in ordering/performing an HIV-related test is governed by § 2805-D (discussing the limitation of medical, dental, podiatric malpractice action based on lack of informed consent).