(a) Any medical personnel employed by, under contract to, or receiving payment from the State of California, any agency thereof, or any county, city, or city and county to provide service at any state prison, the Medical Facility, any Youth Authority institution, any county jail, city jail, hospital jail ward, juvenile hall, juvenile detention facility, or any other facility where adults are held in custody or minors are detained, or any medical personnel employed, under contract, or receiving payment to provide services to persons in custody or detained at any of the foregoing facilities, who receives information as specified herein that an inmate or minor at the facility has been exposed to or infected by the AIDS virus or has an AIDS-related condition or any communicable disease, shall communicate the information to the officer in charge of the facility where the inmate or minor is in custody or detained.
(b) Information subject to disclosure under subdivision (a) shall include the following: any laboratory test that indicates exposure to or infection by the AIDS virus, AIDS-related condition, or other communicable diseases; any statement by the inmate or minor to medical personnel that he or she has AIDS or an AIDS-related condition, has been exposed to the AIDS virus, or has any communicable disease; the results of any medical examination or test that indicates that the inmate or minor has tested positive for antibodies to the AIDS virus, has been exposed to the AIDS virus, has an AIDS-related condition, or is infected with AIDS or any communicable disease; provided, that information subject to disclosure shall not include information communicated to or obtained by a scientific research study pursuant to prior written approval expressly waiving disclosure under this section by the officer in charge of the facility.
(c) The officer in charge of the facility shall notify all employees, medical personnel, contract personnel, and volunteers providing services at the facility who have or may have direct contact with the inmate or minor in question, or with bodily fluids from the inmate or minor, of the substance of the information received under subdivisions (a) and (b) so that those persons can take appropriate action to provide for the care of the inmate or minor, the safety of other inmates or minors, and their own safety.
(d) The officer in charge and all persons to whom information is disclosed pursuant to this section shall maintain the confidentiality of personal identifying data regarding the information, except for disclosure authorized hereunder or as may be necessary to obtain medical or psychological care or advice.
(e) Any person who wilfully discloses personal identifying data regarding information obtained under this section to any person who is not a peace officer or an employee of a federal, state, or local public health agency, except as authorized hereunder, by court order, with the written consent of the patient or as otherwise authorized by law, is guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Amended by Stats. 2003, Ch. 468, Sec. 6. Effective January 1, 2004. Note: Stats. 1995, Ch. 415, reenacted in this section the provisions from Section 199.99 as added on Nov. 8, 1988, by initiative Prop. 96.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018