Proposed regulations for implementing the state's new AIDS lawsmake the tracing of sexual contacts voluntary and require the stateto get a court order before isolating anyone with the deadly virus.
The draft rules also require physicians and hospitals to reportthe names and addresses of people with AIDS-related complex, inaddition to reporting people with AIDS, which is already mandatory.
The confidentiality of those names would be protected underprocedures so rigid that researchers must sign a contract beforeusing the data, according to rules drafted by the Illinois PublicHealth Department.
The draft regulations contain a few surprises, such as a sectionthat outlaws the controversial "AIDS-free" cards, which state that aperson has been tested and is not infected with acquired immunedeficiency syndrome.
The rules, which must undergo public comment before beingadopted, are detailed in a document that has been quietly circulatedamong "interested parties," said department spokesman Tom Schafer.
Many who have seen the draft generally praise the proposed rulesfor striking "the right balance" in implementing the sweeping lawspassed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Thompsonthis year.
"Largely they reflect the language of the laws themselves," saidDr. Renslow Sherer, chairman of Gov. Thompson's AIDS advisory taskforce.
Among the controversial issues tackled by the department in itsrules is contact-tracing. Bills originally called for mandatorytracing, but the final measure signed into law left details up to thePublic Health Department.
The draft rules say AIDS patients should be asked to namecontacts for the past year voluntarily, and include no penalty forrefusal. The rules also order records of the contacts' names to bedestroyed after six months.
State Sen. Beverly Fawell, who had argued for stiff measures,approved of the rules, though she questioned requiring records to bedestroyed after six months.
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