Govt considers law change over HIV case

The government may consider changing the law after a man believed to be infecting others with HIV was not reported to police because of patient confidentiality.

Health authorities were told the HIV-positive man was allegedly infecting people in Auckland and Wellington with the virus months ago but were not obliged to tell police, the Sunday News reported.

Under the Public Health Act 1956 - which pre-dates HIV by many years - health professionals are not required to disclose the fact someone is HIV-positive or could be spreading the virus.

The only exception is when a clinician knows a specific person is at risk, then the Medical Office of Health can be notified.

"I think there needs to be more power for legislative agencies to prevent harm to others," said New Zealand Aids Foundation spokesman Simon Harger-Forde.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said he would meet with officials this week to discuss the possibility of a law change.

On Friday, a 40-year-old man appeared in Auckland District Court charged with infecting three men with HIV and attempting to infect a fourth. He did not enter pleas and was refused bail.

Judge Josephine Bouchier granted interim name suppression.

The bisexual man has lived in Auckland for two years after moving from Wellington. He was identified by Auckland District Health Board members as someone who may have been infecting others up to six months ago, the newspaper reported.

The New Zealand Aids Foundation was also alerted by a concerned former partner of the defendant last year over concerns the man was allegedly spreading the potentially lethal virus. But "patient confidentiality" meant police were again not advised.

Police said they were first informed of the man's alleged offending a fortnight ago. They arrested him at a motel on Thursday.

ADHB spokeswoman Julia Lang issued a statement saying that if clinicians were worried a person was a risk to others the matter was referred to the public health service.

"The public health service takes such concerns very seriously and manages them accordingly within the law."

Harger-Forde said his own organisation did not notify police when patients disclosed ongoing unsafe sexual practices.

"Currently we would work with (patients) in a therapeutic sense to try and stop them."

- NZPA