(a) Any health practitioner employed in a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, local or state public health department, or a clinic or other type of facility operated by a local or state public health department who, in his or her professional capacity or within the scope of his or her employment, provides medical services for a physical condition to a patient whom he or she knows or reasonably suspects is a person described as follows, shall immediately make a report in accordance with subdivision (b):
(1) Any person suffering from any wound or other physical injury inflicted by his or her own act or inflicted by another where the injury is by means of a firearm.
(2) Any person suffering from any wound or other physical injury inflicted upon the person where the injury is the result of assaultive or abusive conduct.
(b) Any health practitioner employed in a health facility, clinic, physician’s office, local or state public health department, or a clinic or other type of facility operated by a local or state public health department shall make a report regarding persons described in subdivision (a) to a local law enforcement agency as follows:
(1) A report by telephone shall be made immediately or as soon as practically possible.
(2) A written report shall be prepared on the standard form developed in compliance with paragraph (4) of this subdivision, and Section 11160.2, and adopted by the Office of Emergency Services, or on a form developed and adopted by another state agency that otherwise fulfills the requirements of the standard form. The completed form shall be sent to a local law enforcement agency within two working days of receiving the information regarding the person.
(3) A local law enforcement agency shall be notified and a written report shall be prepared and sent pursuant to paragraphs (1) and (2) even if the person who suffered the wound, other injury, or assaultive or abusive conduct has expired, regardless of whether or not the wound, other injury, or assaultive or abusive conduct was a factor contributing to the death, and even if the evidence of the conduct of the perpetrator of the wound, other injury, or assaultive or abusive conduct was discovered during an autopsy.
(4) The report shall include, but shall not be limited to, the following:
(A) The name of the injured person, if known.
(B) The injured person’s whereabouts.
(C) The character and extent of the person’s injuries.
(D) The identity of any person the injured person alleges inflicted the wound, other injury, or assaultive or abusive conduct upon the injured person.
(c) For the purposes of this section, “injury” shall not include any psychological or physical condition brought about solely through the voluntary administration of a narcotic or restricted dangerous drug.
(d) For the purposes of this section, “assaultive or abusive conduct” shall include any of the following offenses:
(1) Murder, in violation of Section 187.
(2) Manslaughter, in violation of Section 192 or 192.5.
(3) Mayhem, in violation of Section 203.
(4) Aggravated mayhem, in violation of Section 205.
(5) Torture, in violation of Section 206.
(6) Assault with intent to commit mayhem, rape, sodomy, or oral copulation, in violation of Section 220.
(7) Administering controlled substances or anesthetic to aid in commission of a felony, in violation of Section 222.
(8) Battery, in violation of Section 242.
(9) Sexual battery, in violation of Section 243.4.
(10) Incest, in violation of Section 285.
(11) Throwing any vitriol, corrosive acid, or caustic chemical with intent to injure or disfigure, in violation of Section 244.
(12) Assault with a stun gun or taser, in violation of Section 244.5.
(13) Assault with a deadly weapon, firearm, assault weapon, or machinegun, or by means likely to produce great bodily injury, in violation of Section 245.
(14) Rape, in violation of Section 261.
(15) Spousal rape, in violation of Section 262.
(16) Procuring any female to have sex with another man, in violation of Section 266, 266a, 266b, or 266c.
(17) Child abuse or endangerment, in violation of Section 273a or 273d.
(18) Abuse of spouse or cohabitant, in violation of Section 273.5.
(19) Sodomy, in violation of Section 286.
(20) Lewd and lascivious acts with a child, in violation of Section 288.
(21) Oral copulation, in violation of Section 288a.
(22) Sexual penetration, in violation of Section 289.
(23) Elder abuse, in violation of Section 368.
(24) An attempt to commit any crime specified in paragraphs (1) to (23), inclusive.
(e) When two or more persons who are required to report are present and jointly have knowledge of a known or suspected instance of violence that is required to be reported pursuant to this section, and when there is an agreement among these persons to report as a team, the team may select by mutual agreement a member of the team to make a report by telephone and a single written report, as required by subdivision (b). The written report shall be signed by the selected member of the reporting team. Any member who has knowledge that the member designated to report has failed to do so shall thereafter make the report.
(f) The reporting duties under this section are individual, except as provided in subdivision (e).
(g) No supervisor or administrator shall impede or inhibit the reporting duties required under this section and no person making a report pursuant to this section shall be subject to any sanction for making the report. However, internal procedures to facilitate reporting and apprise supervisors and administrators of reports may be established, except that these procedures shall not be inconsistent with this article. The internal procedures shall not require any employee required to make a report under this article to disclose his or her identity to the employer.
(h) For the purposes of this section, it is the Legislature’s intent to avoid duplication of information.
(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 418. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018