Porn stars aren’t known for being private people. They willingly share intimate moments with strangers and bare their bodies in eye-catching 4K. Even so, there are some things they’d prefer to keep to themselves, like medical records. Recently though, STD and HIV results have made performer medical records tempting targets for some organizations.
On August 21, the Free Speech Coalition Performer Availability Screening Services (FSCPASS) issued a warning to performers in the adult entertainment industry, urging them to protect their medical rights. In the latest tug of war to build support for a statewide version of Measure B, a Los Angeles County mandate requiring condom use in pornography, the AIDs Healthcare Foundation (AHF), has issued subpoenas for porn performers’ medical records. Requesting medical records as far back as January 1, 2007, the AHF subpoenas bring up concerns not only among current performers but those who’ve retired years ago.
Performers are outraged. And many of them are directing their ire towards Michael Weinstein, President of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, for making the adult entertainment industry a target.
When 2015 Best Male Performer nominee Ryan Driller first heard the news he says he was pissed. “I want to make this fair. I want to subpoena Michael Weinstein back. I want to know his personal sexual history to make sure he hasn’t been spreading anything to his partners. This is a personal vendetta against the industry.”
Award-winning adult star Tanya Tate says the way she feels about it can be summed up in one word: disgust. “It’s absolutely disgusting. We don’t need anyone coming in and helping us in a negative way,” she says. “In my opinion, AHF should be helping people with HIV and AIDS, giving them support and funding research. It shouldn’t be a political fight; they shouldn’t be targeting us.”
Porn starlet Brooklyn Chase wholeheartedly agrees and believes the AHF is doing more harm than good. “The AHF has no right to step in and change things, pretending to protect performers. By doing that they are taking advantage of us,” says Chase. “I think it’s a gross violation of our rights. If I don’t want to hand over my records and they subpoena them then it feels like stealing, it feels like they are stealing information about me that I don’t want them to have.”
Technically, we are all protected under the HIPAA—porn stars are not excluded from this. However under the HIPPA Privacy Rule, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) recognizes the need to share personal health information (PHI) “to accomplish essential public health objectives and to meet certain other societal needs.” Don’t worry, your medical information is still safe, for the most part these types of PHI disclosures are limited primarily to health plans, health care providers and health care clearing houses. In other words, this privacy rule condoning access to private medical records does not seem applicable to the AHF.
However, the AHF may be within their rights, even if it feels like a complete violation of medical privacy. Under the Privacy Rule, de-identified information and limited data sets are not covered, which are essentially private medical records stripped of various personal identification markers such as names, phone numbers, etc.
While it’s unclear how the AHF has categorized their request for performers’ private medical records, the subpoenaed copy posted by adult industry blogger Mike South uses language that may keep them in the clear. Instead, placing the burden of disclosure on the testing clinics, the subpoena states, “information that would disclose the identity of the persons who received the tests may be redacted from DOCUMENTS and/or RECORDS.”
Tension is mounting among performers as they wait to see what happens next. Casey Calvert, winner of the 2015 XRCO Unsung Siren award, says she worries about how the gathered information will be used. “I feel like they are going to get their hands on this data and skew the data in a way that proves their point, whatever their point is. I imagine AHF will come out with some big statement about how we are all liars and how two-week testing doesn’t work.”
AVN award-winning porn star Sunny Lane fears what the future may hold if the AHF wins this round. “It violates our rights as Americans! My medical records should be between my doctor and I. If they let AHF have our records it’s a slippery slope that can lead to more humanistic rights being violated.”
Porn legend Alana Evans says it’s up to performers to band together and look out for themselves now. “We are being harassed as individuals because now it’s our private medical information that we have to protect. It’s ridiculous; you can’t just go to my doctor at Kaiser and get my medical records, so why should you be able to access them at the clinic we go to?”