COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2127
(By Delegate Staton)
(Originating in the Committee on
Health and Human Resources)
[March 19, 1997]
A BILL to amend and reenact section five, article five-a, chapter
twenty-six of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to the suspension of
general notice requirements in cases involving immediate
involuntary commitments to detoxification centers or hospitals
of persons who are alcoholics, drug users or patients in need
of immediate treatment for tuberculosis, and making technical
changes.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section five, article five-a, chapter twenty-six of the
code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 5A. TUBERCULOSIS CONTROL.
§26-5A-5. Procedure when patient is health menace to others.
(a) If any practicing physician, public health officer, or chief medical officer having under observation or care any person
who is suffering from tuberculosis in a communicable stage is of
the opinion that the environmental conditions of that person are
not suitable for proper isolation or control by any type of local
quarantine as prescribed by the state bureau division of public
health of the department of health and human resources or an
authorized designee thereof, and that the person is unable or
unwilling to conduct himself or herself and to live in such a
manner as not to expose members of his or her family or household
or other persons with whom he or she may be associated to danger of
infection, he or she shall report the facts to the bureau division
of public health or its designee which shall forthwith investigate
or have investigated the circumstances alleged.
(b) If the bureau division of public health or its designee
finds that any person's physical condition is a health menace to
others, the bureau division of public health or its designee shall
petition the circuit court of the county in which the person
resides, or the judge thereof in vacation, alleging that the person
is afflicted with communicable tuberculosis and that the person's
physical condition is a health menace to others, and requesting an
order of the court committing the person to one of the state
institutions for the treatment of tuberculosis: Provided, That if
the bureau division of public health or its designee determines
than an emergency situation exists which warrants the immediate detention and commitment of a person suffering from tuberculosis,
an application for immediate involuntary commitment may be filed
pursuant to section seven of this article.
(c) Upon receiving the petition, the court shall fix a date
for hearing thereof and notice of the petition and the time and
place for hearing shall be served personally, at least seven days
before the hearing, upon the person who is afflicted with
tuberculosis and alleged to be dangerous to the health of others.
(d) If, upon hearing, it appears that the complaint of the
bureau division of public health or its designee is well founded,
that the person is afflicted with communicable tuberculosis, and
that the person is a source of danger to others, the court shall
commit the individual to an institution maintained for the care and
treatment of persons afflicted with tuberculosis. The person shall
be deemed to be committed until discharged in the manner authorized
in this section: Provided, Tthat the hearing and notice provisions
of this subsection shall not apply to immediate involuntary
commitments as provided in section seven of this article.
(e) The chief medical officer of the institution to which any
person afflicted with tuberculosis has been committed may discharge
that person when, in his or her judgment, the person may be
discharged without danger to the health or life of others. The
chief medical officer shall report immediately to the bureau
division of public health or its designee each discharge of a person afflicted with tuberculosis.
(f) (g) Every person committed under the provisions of this
section shall observe all the rules of the institution. Any
patient so committed may, by direction of the chief medical officer
of the institution, be placed apart from the others and restrained
from leaving the institution so long as he or she continues to be
afflicted with tuberculosis and remains a health menace.
(g) (h) Nothing in this section may be construed to prohibit any
person committed to any institution under the provisions of this
section from applying to the supreme court of appeals for a review
of the evidence on which the commitment was made. Nothing in this
section may be construed or operate to empower or authorize the
bureau division of public health, the department of health and
human resources or an authorized designee thereof or the chief
medical officer of the institution, or their representatives, to
restrict in any manner the individual's right to select any method
of tuberculosis treatment offered by the institution.