A Georgia family says an urgent care clinic failed to notify their teenage daughter after an HIV screening came back positive, leaving the teen to discover the result on her own through an online patient portal.
The family later learned the test result was a false positive, but they say the experience nearly ended in tragedy after the teenager attempted to take her own life.
The family, who asked not to be identified to protect the teenager’s privacy, said the incident began in June after the girl visited Pickens Urgent Care in Decatur. According to the mother, she woke up to her daughter’s screams after the teen had checked her MyChart account around 2 a.m. and found a positive HIV test result.
“I just didn’t feel good at that moment,” the teenager told Channel 2 Action News. The mother said she forced her way into the teen’s locked bedroom to find that she had attempted to take her life after the diagnosis.
“I was just crying. I felt like my life was over,” the teenager said.
Her mother said the clinic never contacted the family, and after four additional tests at different facilities, all came back negative, a nurse at an HIV clinic urged her to investigate further.
“She said, ‘Mom, this is a false positive. Do your research on that clinic. Do your due diligence,’” the mother recalled.
The family found numerous poor Google reviews of the clinic, many of which allege long wait times and “negligent” and seemingly unqualified providers.
“What if I didn’t go to another clinic to get tested? I would have just gone on thinking that I had it,” the teenager said of her false postive.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says patients with positive HIV test results should be notified confidentially and promptly connected to follow-up care. Timely notification is critical because early treatment improves health outcomes, reduces the risk of transmission and ensures patients receive the support and care they need, according to the CDC.
That never happened in the Georgia teen’s case, the family claimed. The mother alleges she was only contacted by the clinic after Channel 2 Action News visited the facility in-person.
Clinic officials reportedly told the outlet that HIV patients are typically scheduled for a follow-up appointment within five days.
“Thank God it was a false positive,” the mother said about her daughter’s situation. “We just want to make sure this doesn’t happen to any other teenagers.”
Most states, including Georgia, do not have a specific license or regulator for urgent care centers, according to Community Catalyst, a national nonprofit focused on making health care more accessible, affordable and equitable. Instead, the doctors and other medical professionals working there are licensed individually, or the clinic operates under a hospital’s license if it is affiliated with one.
The Independent has contacted Pickens Urgent Care and the Georgia Composite Medical Board for comment.
If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call or text 988, or visit 988lifeline.org to access online chat from the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you.
