MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Public Health and Welfare

By: Representative Holden

House Bill 1625

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 41-23-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE INSURANCE COMPANIES THAT HAVE KNOWLEDGE OF APPLICANTS WITH THOSE DISEASES THAT ARE REQUIRED TO BE REPORTED BY THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH TO REPORT SUCH KNOWLEDGE AND RELATED MEDICAL INFORMATION TO THE APPLICANT AND TO THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

 

SECTION 1. Section 41-23-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

41-23-1. (1) The State Board of Health shall adopt rules and regulations (a) defining and classifying communicable diseases and other diseases that are a danger to health based upon the characteristics of the disease; and (b) establishing reporting, monitoring and preventive procedures for those diseases.

(2) Upon the death of any person who has been diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or any Class 1 disease as designated by the State Board of Health, in a hospital or other health care facility, in all other cases where there is an attending physician, and in cases in which the medical examiner, as defined in Section 41-61-53(f), investigates and certifies the cause of death, the attending physician, the person in charge of the hospital or health care facility, or the medical examiner, as the case may be, shall report as soon as practicable to the Executive Officer of the State Board of Health or to other authorities the cause or contributing cause of death as required by the State Board of Health. Such reporting shall be according to procedures as required by the State Board of Health.

(3) Upon the death of any person who has been diagnosed as having Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), where there is not an attending physician, any family member or other person making disposition of the body who knows that such decedent had been diagnosed as having AIDS shall report this fact to the medical examiner as defined in Section 41-61-53(f), who shall report as soon as practicable to the Executive Officer of the State Board of Health or to other authorities the cause or contributing cause of death as required by the State Board of Health. Such reporting shall be according to procedures as required by the State Board of Health.

(4) Every practicing or licensed physician, or person in charge of a hospital, health care facility, insurance company or laboratory, shall report immediately to the Executive Officer of the State Board of Health or to other authorities as required by the State Board of Health every case of such diseases as shall be required to be reported by the State Board of Health. Such reporting shall be according to procedures, and shall include such information about the case, as shall be required by the State Board of Health. Insurance companies shall report immediately to the Executive Officer of the State Board of Health or to other authorities as required by the State Board of Health every case of such diseases as shall be required to be reported by the State Board of Health. Such information shall also be given by the insurance company to the applicant, client or other such person who the insurance company knows to have the disease.

(5) Any practicing or licensed physician, or person in charge of a hospital or health care facility, who knows that a patient has a medical condition specified by the Department of Health as requiring special precautions by health care providers, shall report this fact and the need for appropriate precautions to any other institution or provider of health care services to whom such patient is transferred or referred, according to regulations established by the State Board of Health.

(6) Any practicing or licensed physician or person in charge of a hospital, health care facility or laboratory who fails to make the reports required under this section regarding Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or any Class 1 disease or condition as designated by the State Board of Health shall be reported to the Board of Medical Licensure, in the case of a physician, or to the applicable licensing agency in the case of institutions, and such failure shall be grounds for suspension of license.

(7) Any person other than a practicing or licensed physician, or person in charge of a hospital or health care facility, willfully failing to make the reports required under this section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or by confinement in the county jail for not more than thirty (30) days, or both.

(8) The provisions of this section are cumulative and supplemental to any other provision of law, and a conviction or penalty imposed under this section shall not preclude any other action at law, proceedings for professional discipline or other criminal proceedings.

(9) Notwithstanding any law of this state to the contrary, the State Board of Health is authorized to establish the rules by which exceptions may be made to the confidentiality provisions of the laws of this state for the notification of third parties of an individual's infection with any Class 1 or Class 2 disease, as designated by the State Board of Health, when exposure is indicated or there exists a threat to the public health and welfare. All notifications authorized by this section shall be within the rules established according to this subsection. All persons who receive notification of the infectious condition of an individual under this subsection and the rules established under this subsection shall hold such information in the strictest of confidence and privilege, shall not reveal the information to others, and shall take only those actions necessary to protect the health of the infected person or other persons where there is a foreseeable, real or probable risk of transmission of the disease.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1997.