Page 10 - Florida Sentinel 2-26-16 Edition

Local
West Tampa Citizens Advisory Committee Addresses Priorities
Woman Files Lawsuit Against Hospital About HIV Status
A Tampa woman filed a lawsuit against a local hospital pertaining to her HIV status. The woman is seeking damages for emotional stress.
According to the lawsuit, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, accused nurses at Tampa General Hospital of talking about her HIV status over a speaker phone. The woman’s adult daughter and other fam- ily members did not know she was HIV positive when they overheard the conversation be- tween hospital employees.
The federal HIPA (Health Insurance Portability and Ac- countability Act) law of 1996 prevents healthcare profes-
sionals from discussing a pa- tient’s healthcare information without the patient’s permis- sion.
The woman was a patient at the hospital in December 2014 and gave birth to a child that later died. The woman alleges that the conversation pertained to the infant’s organ donation status and whether the infant could be an organ donor be- cause the mother was HIV pos- itive. The infant died from complications from the sur- gery.
A spokesperson for Tampa General Hospital said the hos- pital cannot comment on the lawsuit.
BY LEON B. CREWS Sentinel Staff Writer
On Tuesday night, the West Tampa Citizens Advi- sory Committee (CAC) met to address their priorities and set in place some structure.
West Tampa CAC Chair, Joe Robinson, said the meeting went well and the public had a chance to ad- dress the CAC as to what they felt should be prioritized projects.
“We listened to one citi- zen addressing the need for the roads in West Tampa to be repaired, specifically Main and Albany, because those roadways have become routes of choice for trucks.
“After setting our March and April agendas, CAC member, Ed Turanchik, asked each member to list their goals as to what they wanted for West Tampa. We asked law enforcement to keep us abreast of violent crimes in the area, because that can have an impact on property values.”
JOE ROBINSON West Tampa CAC Chair
Robinson said guide- lines were put in place as to how meetings will be con- ducted, and that the Chair will approve the agenda be- fore it is finalized.
“We had land use repre- sentatives talk to us about which agency owns what and what are their plans.
“Jeanette Fenton (West Tampa Development Manager) registered the CAC as a neighborhood group
with the city, and that means we will start getting public announcements 30 days in advance.”
Robinson said public comments were very inform- ative and the mural on Main Street and Howard Avenue was discussed as to the cost of restoring the art work and structural repairs on the wall where the mural is located.
“We were asked to do asset mapping and review what other national CRA’s are doing.”
Robinson said in the fu- ture, they’d like someone from Economics to come in.
“Some vital issues dis- cussed were staggered term limits for the CAC members, including general discussions as part of our meeting agenda, and a report on how to maintain the existing busi- nesses in West Tampa.
“We’d like to get a con- sultant to go over our strate- gic plan to make sure we’re not over-reaching the limits of what the West Tampa CRA can make happen.”
PAGE 10-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2016