32-1457. Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; disclosure of patient information; immunity; definition
A. Notwithstanding section 32-1401, it is not an act of unprofessional conduct for a doctor of medicine to report to the department of health services the name of a patient's spouse or sex partner or a person with whom the patient has shared hypodermic needles or syringes if the doctor of medicine knows that the patient has contracted or tests positive for the human immunodeficiency virus and that the patient has not or will not notify these people and refer them to testing. Before making the report to the department of health services, the doctor of medicine shall first consult with the patient and ask the patient to release this information voluntarily.
B. It is not an act of unprofessional conduct for a doctor of medicine who knows or has reason to believe that a significant exposure has occurred between a patient who has contracted or tests positive for the human immunodeficiency virus and a health care or public safety employee to inform the employee of the exposure. Before informing the employee, the doctor of medicine shall consult with the patient and ask the patient to release this information voluntarily. If the patient does not release this information the doctor of medicine may do so in a manner that does not identify the patient.
C. This section does not impose a duty to disclose information. A doctor of medicine is not civilly or criminally liable for either disclosing or not disclosing information.
D. If a doctor of medicine decides to make a disclosure pursuant to this section, he may request that the department of health services make the disclosure on his behalf.
E. For the purposes of this section, " significant exposure" means contact of a person's ruptured or broken skin or mucous membranes with another person's blood or body fluids, other than tears, saliva or perspiration, of a magnitude that the centers for disease control of the United States public health service have epidemiologically demonstrated can result in transmission of the human immunodeficiency virus.
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