Family says urgent care failed to notify teen of positive HIV test later determined to be incorrect

Key Points:

• A teenage girl in DeKalb County, Georgia, discovered a false positive HIV test result through her online medical portal without any prior contact or counseling from Pickens Urgent Care, causing severe emotional distress and a suicide attempt.
• The family received no follow-up communication from the urgent care clinic, prompting them to seek multiple additional tests at other facilities, all of which returned negative results.
• The family found online complaints about Pickens Urgent Care involving misdiagnoses and poor patient care, raising concerns about the clinic's practices.
• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that positive HIV test results be delivered through confidential, direct personal contact with immediate linkage to counseling and medical care, a protocol the clinic failed to follow.
• After media attention, the clinic contacted the family for the first time since the initial visit, while no specific state agency regulates urgent care centers in Georgia; medical professionals are regulated individually by their licensing boards.