Are an HIV-positive persons own personal records (address book, diary, emails) ever confidential under the law?
Under what circumstances can the police see them? Although medical records are subject to particularly stringent procedures, requiring the police to seek a court order from a circuit judge to examine them, a person’s own personal information (such as diaries, letters or emails) will normally be subject only to the general rules governing search warrants. These require only reasonable grounds for believing that the premises to be searched will contain material which is “relevant evidence” of “substantial value” to the investigation of an indictable offence.11 That is demonstrated vividly by Sarah Porter’s case, where it appears from newspaper reports that the initial complaint to the police was made by a former partner of Porter’s who had not himself contracted HIV from her, and the police searched her flat for documents which led them to a former sexual partner who had become HIV-positive after their two-year relationship. Question 12 Following on from this, could semi-public informati
