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Ed Perlmutter
An Accidental Activist
Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Do What You Can*
September 10, 2012 On April 27, 2012, with the stroke of a pen and little fanfare or media attention, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick signed into law Senate Bill 2158 ("An Act Increasing Screening for HIV"), thus removing a decades-old requirement to obtain written informed consent prior to HIV testing. The Commonwealth's new law now allows for an individual to give verbal informed consent before receiving an HIV test. Until the law took effect on July 26, 2012 (again with little fanfare or media note), Massachusetts was one of only two states that had mandated written consent, a testing model which many clinicians and testing advocates, myself included, believed posed a barrier to testing.
Simmer on Low; Stir Occasionally
April 5, 2012
If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Massachusetts HIV Testing Policy in 2012: Six Degrees of C. Everett Koop
December 2, 2011
A "funny" thing may happen on the way to bringing HIV testing law in Massachusetts into the 21st century - NOT A DAMNED THING. ZERO. ZILCH.
I'll Take the Paradigm Shift. Can You Super Size It Please?
September 8, 2011 If for no other reason (and there are many other salient ones), the encounter described here explains precisely why routine opt-out HIV testing is the only testing method that should be instituted in Massachusetts. No one should settle for anything less; I certainly will not.
2011 "Fight HIV Your Way" Contest -- I Won Third Place; This Work My W(hole)
August 3, 2011 My entry in the 2011 "Fight HIV Your Way" contest, sponsored by Bristol-Myers Squibb and its first-line protease inhibitor Reyataz, has been selected as one of 25 national third prize winners. I entered the contest this past February to help raise awareness about HIV testing issues in general and specifically the need for routine opt-out HIV testing here in Massachusetts, which now holds the dubious distinction of being the only state in the United States where Written Informed Consent testing is the only means to be screened for the HIV virus.
First in Fig Newtons, Last in Routine HIV Testing: Nightmare in the Bay State
July 13, 2011 Massachusetts, the state in which I live, boasts many firsts -- among them, the first state to recognize marriage equality (2004), the first typewriter (invented by Charles Thurber in Worcester in 1840), the first Fig Newton cookie (invented by James Henry Mitchell in Newton in 1881), and the first subway (opened in Boston in 1898 and still operating the same nineteenth-century trolley cars).
Tear Down This Wall (and Not a Moment Too Soon): HIV Testing Testimony at the Massachusetts State House
April 11, 2011 I delivered testimony in favor of a Verbal Informed Consent HIV Testing Bill, now making its way through the Massachusetts Legislature, to a packed hearing room on Tuesday, April 5, 2011. While this bill is neither the Routine Opt-Out HIV testing model nor the bill I would support in a perfect world, last time I checked we live on a rather imperfect globe. I decided it was time to stop waltzing in the Mosh Pit, where things can get messy. Rather, my testimony took me on the High Road, a road less traveled, at least in the experiences thus far of An Accidental Activist.
In This Case, I Don't Even Own That Kind of Towel
February 14, 2011 I did not get into this Accidental Activist thing to make friends, but rather to influence people and to help save lives by shifting HIV testing to a Routine Opt-Out paradigm. I wish to affect change in a public health policy -- at least in the state where I live -- that currently is about as relevant as a leisure suit.
Routine Opt-Out HIV Testing in 2011: The Road to Civility Is Paved With Forgiveness
December 6, 2010
I had the pleasure of spending a recent weekend in Los Angeles, and for someone who has lived in New England for more than 27 years I'm struck each time I visit. LA seems very much like stepping into our cultural future. LA still has a refreshing and disarming new frontier feel, like anything is still possible there. If that sounds hokey, so be it.
Sue the Bastards, That's What I Always Say
November 24, 2010 I am fairly certain that the Massachusetts State House is haunted, but only in good ways, by kind spirits. You heard it here first. Under the floorboards, behind portraits of fatigued-looking Governors of yore, in the uneven walls worn and rippled by time, run wise, determined and shit-kicking ghosts, but I was unaware of all this paranormal activity as I walked out of the hearing room in the State House 13 months ago after testifying in favor of Senate Bill 2416, which would have replaced Written Informed HIV Testing with Routine Opt-Out HIV Testing. |
BLOG:
An Accidental Activist  Ed Perlmutter Ed Perlmutter was diagnosed with HIV in July 2006, and has been receiving HIV therapy through a National Institutes of Health (NIH) study since September 2006. He lives with his partner in an old farmhouse on the city limits of Boston, in the woods, amongst critters and varmints and dozens of varieties of dahlias. When he is not raising awareness as an accidental activist, he is a graduate student in health communication at Emerson College and works as a textbook publishing consultant. Subscribe to Ed's Blog:
Recent Posts:
September 10, 2012 - Start Where You Are, Use What You Have, Do What You Can: A Blog Entry by Ed Perlmutter
April 5, 2012 - Simmer on Low; Stir Occasionally: A Blog Entry by Ed Perlmutter December 2, 2011 - Massachusetts HIV Testing Policy in 2012: Six Degrees of C. Everett Koop -- A Blog Entry by Ed Perlmutter September 8, 2011 - I'll Take the Paradigm Shift. Can You Super Size It Please? A Blog Entry by Ed Perlmutter August 3, 2011 - 2011 "Fight HIV Your Way" Contest -- I Won Third Place; This Work My W(hole): A Blog Entry by Ed Perlmutter Ed's Posts on TheBody.com's Positive Policy Blog: August 18, 2010 - Massachusetts "Opt-Out" HIV Testing Bill: Update July 29, 2010 - Massachusetts HIV Bill Must Pass by July 31 A Brief Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by TheBody.com's bloggers are entirely their own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of TheBody.com itself. |
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