Informed Consent •In Florida, an HIV test subject must essentially understand (be "informed" about) and then explicitly agree ("consent") to the test. •No Florida law authorizes providers to perform an HIV test based on a "general consent" from a patient to draw blood and run unspecified tests on the sample. •Except in the limited situations described below in subsection 4, “Exceptions to Informed Consent Requirements,” a patient's informed and specific consent to the HIV test must first be obtained. §§381.004(2)(a) and (h), F.S. |
•Since the 1998 amendments to the Act, health care providers must, as a matter of law, convey three pieces of information, all essentially involving the choice of a testing site, as part of the process of obtaining informed consent: 1. Disclose that the provider is required by law to report the test subject’s name to the local county health department if the HIV test results are positive; 2. Alert the patient that as an alternative, the patient may secure the HIV test at a site that tests anonymously, the locations of which the provider must make available; and 3. Relate the extent of the confidentiality rights that adhere to the test results in the provider's patient records. |