An elusive procedure:
Policano, Joseph D
THE AIDS TEST
AN ELUSIVE PROCEDURE
ACCESS & CONFIDENTIALITY
I am a middle-aged heterosexual who has no known contact with IV drug users. So being told that I had to take an AIDS blood test to...
...The lab's call would have been troublesome...
...Of course she knew I was taking the test, but what if she hadn't...
...Pause...
...My physician's nurse was puzzled about the need for a new form: "The administrator hasn't given us any new forms...
...As I would be for the next twelve times I called the number and got the recorded message (in Spanish as well as English...
...Then I was disconnected...
...Since I was going to New Haven on another matter, I called a physician friend and was told, "Sure, my lab can do the test for you.'' The blood was drawn in a few minutes and I was told my physician in New York would be notified by the end of the week...
...It shouldn't...
...The experience has been annoying but, ultimately, it will be humorous when I recount it...
...Wrong one, that's the old one...
...As I said, I am in a very low-risk group and the likelihood of a positive result is very, very remote...
...to 9 P.M., and please hold on for the next available counselor...
...Six of them did not do it and suggested I telephone hospitals...
...Since my wife was a member of New York City's Health Insurance Plan (HMO), I contacted our family doctor, was interviewed about the reason for wanting to take the test, and was then given a form instructing me to telephone a special center for an appointment...
...He gave me the name of a Manhattan doctor...
...Was it horizontal or vertical...
...So being told that I had to take an AIDS blood test to qualify for foreign service held no terrors for me-well, hardly any terrors...
...But it is heartless if men and women in high-risk groups, who have real fears that they may have been exposed, are encountering the same frustrations...
...Mine was horizontal...
...I spoke with Long Island Jewish and the fourth person there said they couldn't do it and suggested the New York City AIDS Hotline...
...So I began telephoning labs in Queens and nearby Nassau county...
...The following day my wife received a call from the lab saving,"Hah, hah, you won't believe this, but we dropped the blood sample for your husband's lab work...
...No opportunity to go back to New Haven, even though they graciously offered to re-do the test without charge...
...I telephoned and after much "hold on, please" was connected with a young lady who inquired about the shape of the form I had been given...
...But he would help me...
...JOSEPH D. POLICANO Joseph D. Policano is a New York City businessman who has volunteered for the Peace Corps.the Peace Corps...
...The first call brought a recorded message saying all counselors were busy, the hotline was open from 9 a.m...
...I'll have to call him.'' Three days later I still hadn't heard from her and for a week after neither she nor my physician returned my telephone calls...
...Sometime around 8 P.M., after the TV news (which reported that New York City would continue to be the AIDS capital of the world for the near future), I tried the AIDS Hotline one more time...
...THE AIDS TEST AN ELUSIVE PROCEDURE ACCESS & CONFIDENTIALITY I am a middle-aged heterosexual who has no known contact with IV drug users...
...We won't give you the test if you bring in that form...
...I tried calling the general number for the Board of Health and was only referred back to the Hotline number with its propensity for disconnecting holders ("Are you sure it's doing that...
...and he did, although there were no doctors in Queens in his directory and I refused his offer of a telephone number to call where a listing of Queens doctors might be found...
...It is now near midnight and I have spent the better part of the day trying to arrange for a test to determine if I have the virus that could lead to my death and, possibly, the death of my wife . . . and I am still not certain I will have the test soon...
...Now I got a live human voice, a nice young man who told me that they couldn't help me get a test since all of their work was confidential (it would be released only to me) and if I wanted it sent to someone in writing I would have to find my own doctor...
Vol. 115 • February 1988 • No. 4
