MIDDLETOWN, NJ — (12-02-19) — A Pennsylvania woman with HIV sues her pharmacy, SunRay Drugs, for outing her HIV status to Jane Doe’s neighbors.

According to Jane Doe in her lawsuit filed against SunRay Drugs, in November 2018, the pharmacy called her to inform her that the medications she uses for gender transition and HIV treatment were scheduled to be delivered to her home.

Jane Doe says that in the past, SunRay Pharmacy & Drugs used a brown paper bag that did not have identifying contents of the package or where the package was from. So Jane Doe gave the pharmacy permission to leave her medications in her building’s communal mail room.

However when Jane Doe got home and went to check her ail, she was shocked to see that her packages were in a white SunRay Drugs bag stamped with her name in bold and the names of her medications for all to see.

Ever since that incident, Jane Doe says she’s been shunned by her neighbors and has even heard several of her neighbors gossiping about “the drag queen with AIDS” in the apartment building’s shared laundry room. She noticed how when she entered the laundry room, the conversation abruptly stopped.

SunRay Pharmacy Sued for Outing HIV Transgender Patient to Neighbors

The trauma Jane Doe has suffered from has resulted in her no longer attending the building’s holiday events as well as being forced to do laundry in the late hours of the evening so as to avoid contact with her neighbors and, she now shops at a grocery store that is not familiar with her.

A SunRay representative told Jane Doe’s lawyers from the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania that “steps had been taken to assure the medication packages would be delivered in a manner that did not expose the contents.”

However that doesn’t seem to be the case in Jane Doe’s lawsuit as her attorney’s filed redacted photos showing how a SunRay Pharmacy delivered a bag covered with their Logos, medication name and Jane Doe’s doctor’s names on her delivery.

Pennsylvania law states that it is illegal for health-care or social service providers to reveal someone’s HIV status without the patient’s written consent. The state’s Pharmacy Act and pharmacy board regulations also require a patient’s pharmaceutical information to be kept private.

Jane Doe and her attorney’s arde asking for SunRay Pharmacy to declare that it violated Pennsylvania’s laws pertaining to Jane Doe’s confidential medical status. She’s also suing for compensation for the emotional distress she faced as a result of the incident.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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