Mr. Doe, an HIV-positive man, had been going to the city-run David Powell Clinic for seven years.

Last year he said, two employees of the clinic made his visits even worse than his sickness.

"He put his trust in employees who work at the David Powell Clinic and they betrayed it," Texas Civil Rights Project lawyer Wayne Krause said. "[They were] at a public restaurant where they ridiculed Mr. Doe, used his full name and stated his HIV status. So that a number of people at the restaurant could hear."

Mr. Doe's good friends were in the restaurant during the incident.

Now the employees and the city face a lawsuit for wrongful disclosure.

Mr. Doe said he reported instances of harassment and discrimination.

"Yet, the city of Austin did nothing to stop the disclosures or the harassment," Krause said.

		WATCH THE VIDEO
	HIV disclosure lawsuit A man is suing the city of Austin for not doing anything about clinic workers revealing patient information.

The city's legal counsel said they haven't received the lawsuit, and can't comment on the details. But, beyond what the city faces, the lawsuit brings up the broader issue of confidentiality and HIV.

"You do have to be very careful. But, we try to approach it from the client's perspective," Lee Manford, executive director of AIDS Services of Austin, said.

It takes a lot of courage just to get tested, Manford said.

"There have been instances where families have disowned them, they've lost their job, they may have lost their housing. There's the perceived potential that their world, along with getting the news that they're HIV-positive, that their world could unravel," Manford said.

Anyone who is sick should have the right to choose who, how and when to choose to share the information. That's something Mr. Doe said he didn't have the chance to do.

Krause said the two city employees wrongfully disclosed other HIV-positive patients, which leaves 4,500 to 6,000 HIV-positive patients in Austin to wonder who knows "what" about them.

The defendants face a $5,000 to $10,000 fine for every name wrongfully disclosed. Privacy rights became an issue back in the '80s when many didn't know a lot about the disease.

Today AIDS and HIV advocates say the situation is improving, though, many patients face a certain stigma with their diagnosis.