WEST VIRGINIA CODE
WVC 16-
CHAPTER 16. PUBLIC HEALTH.
WVC 16-4-
ARTICLE 4. SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES.
WVC 16 - 4 - 1
§16-4-1. Diseases designated as sexually transmitted.
Sexually transmitted diseases, as designated by the secretary
of the department of health and human resources in rules proposed
for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of
article three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, are hereby
declared to be infectious, contagious, communicable and dangerous
to the public health. If a conflict exists between a provision of
this article and a provision of article three-c of this chapter,
the provision of article three-c prevails.
WVC 16-4-2
§16-4-2. Investigations by local health officers.
(a) All municipal and county health officers shall:
(1) Use every available means to ascertain the existence of,
and to investigate all cases of sexually transmitted disease coming
within their respective jurisdictions and, when it is necessary,
have all cases treated, if they are not already under treatment;
(2) To ascertain the sources and transmission of the
infection; and
(3) To institute measures for the protection of other persons
from infection by the infected person, or from persons reasonably
suspected of being so infected, and for the protection of the
public health at all times.
(b) A municipal health officer may designate any member of the
city police or health department to make any investigation required
by the provisions of this section. A county health officer may
designate any discreet person to make any investigation required by
the provisions of this section. Any person conducting an
investigation has all authority necessary for the purpose, the same
as the health officer.
WVC 16 - 4 - 3
§16-4-3. Medical clinics and detention houses.
In order to carry out the provisions of the last section,
any health officer may, if he be a municipal health officer, with
the consent of the municipal council or other body having proper
authority, or if he be a county health officer, with the consent
of the county commissioners or other tribunal, establish, either
independently or in cooperation with other agencies, one or more
medical clinics within their respective jurisdictions, and may
also, with like consent, establish or provide one or more places
for detention and quarantine of such persons as may come within
the purview of this article.
WVC 16 - 4 - 4
§16-4-4. Evidence of infection.
The following are prima facie grounds and reasons for
suspecting that a person is infected with a sexually transmitted
disease:
(a) Being a person who has been convicted in any court, or
before a police judge, or before a magistrate, upon any charge
growing out of sexual behavior;
(b) Being a person reported by a physician as infected with a
sexually transmitted disease, where the person is afterwards
reported as having failed to return for treatment; and
(c) Being a person designated in a sexually transmitted
disease report as having a sexual exposure to the infected person
reported.
WVC 16 - 4 - 5
§16-4-5. Examination of convicts; liability for expenses.
When any person has been tried and convicted in any police
court, or in any criminal or circuit court, or before a justice
of the peace, upon any charge or offense growing out of sex
immorality, such as has been set out in the last preceding
section, said person shall not be released from custody by the
judge, justice, or police officer trying the case until the local
health officer having proper jurisdiction has been notified and
has had time to make all necessary tests and examinations to
ascertain whether in fact such person is infected with a venereal
disease, and all necessary expenses for holding such person in
custody pending examination and treatment, if needed, shall be a
proper charge against the municipality, if the offense was
committed within it, or against the county in which the offense
was committed, if committed outside of a municipality; and every
municipality, whether it be a county seat or not, shall be liable
under this section.
WVC 16-4-6
§16-4-6. Reports by physicians.
(a) Every practicing physician or other person who makes a
diagnosis in or treats a case of sexually transmitted disease and
every superintendent or manager of a hospital, dispensary or
charitable or penal institution in which there is a case of
sexually transmitted disease shall make two reports of the case, as
follows:
(1) One report shall be made to the local municipal health
officer, if the party for whom the diagnosis was made or case
treated lives within any municipality having a health officer, and
if the municipality has no health officer, or if the party lives
outside of a municipality, then to the health officer of the county
in which the person lives;
(2) The second report shall be made to the director of health
of the state.
(b) The reports required by this section shall state: (1) The
street number and address of the person reported as diseased; (2)
the age, sex, color, race, marital state and occupation of the
person; (3) the date of the onset of the disease; (4) the
anatomical site of the infection and the date and type of
treatment; and (5) persons having a sexual exposure to the infected
person reported, if any are identified by the infected person. The
reports shall be mailed or delivered to the parties to whom they
are directed within the specifications and time frame established
by the director pursuant to rules proposed for legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
(c) Municipal and county health officers shall file and
preserve the reports required by this section: Provided, That all
records, reports and other information provided under this section
shall be confidential and exempt from public disclosure under the
provisions of chapter twenty-nine-b of this code: Provided,
however, That all reports shall be open to inspection by the
director of the division of health, and by local health officers,
or officers whose duties are connected with executing the laws
against these diseases: Provided further, That any person who
knowingly and willfully divulges or discloses any information
entitled to protection under this section is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more
than five thousand dollars, or imprisoned in the county jail for
not more than one year, or both fined and imprisoned: And provided
further, That the department shall propose regulations relating
hereto for approval by the Legislature in accordance with article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a and such regulations shall include,
but not be limited to, provisions for the implementation of the
confidentiality provisions pertaining to this section.
WVC 16 - 4 - 7
§16-4-7. False report or information.
Any physician or other person required to make reports of a
venereal disease hereunder, or who is required to report the
failure of any patient to return for further treatment, who fails
or refuses to make any such reports, or who knowingly reports a
person under a false or fictitious name or address, or who makes
any other statements on any report which he has reason to believe
are untrue, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be
punished as hereinafter provided; and each report that should
have been made, and each name that should have been given, and
each address that should have been given, or has been wrongfully
reported or given, shall be a separate offense; and a second
conviction of a physician for failure to comply with any
provision of this section shall be sufficient ground and reason
for the director of health, upon the recommendation of the
medical licensing board, to revoke the license of such physician.
Any person suffering with a venereal disease, whose name is
required to be reported hereunder, who gives to the physician or
person required to make reports herein required a false or
fictitious name or address, or who shall fail or refuse to answer
any proper question required to be reported hereunder, or who
makes any false statement in answer to any such question, shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished as hereinafter
provided.
WVC 16 - 4 - 8
§16-4-8. Blanks and fees for reports.
It shall be the duty of the local health officers to furnish
report blanks to physicians or other persons who need them, for
the purpose of making reports required to be made to them, and of
the director of the bureau of venereal diseases to furnish blanks
for reports to be made to the said bureau; and counties and
municipalities may, if they choose, pay persons, for making such
reports as are to be made to county and municipal health
officers, the sum of not to exceed twenty-five cents for each
report so made.
WVC 16-4-9
§16-4-9. Treatment.
(a) Every physician or other person who examines or treats a
person having a sexually transmitted disease shall instruct the
person in measures for preventing the spread of the disease, and to
inform him or her of the necessity of taking treatment until cured.
(b) Any person who has been examined and found infected, or is
being treated for a sexually transmitted disease as provided by
this section, shall follow the directions given by the treating
physician or other person and take precautions as are necessary and
are recommended. Any person starting to take treatment shall
continue the treatment until discharged by the physician or other
person treating him or her.
(c) Any infected person who fails to return for further
treatment within ten days after the last date set by the physician
or other person for the patient to return for further treatment,
without lawful excuse therefor, is guilty of a misdemeanor and
shall be punished as provided in section twenty-six of this
article.
(d) After the expiration of the ten days provided in
subsection (c) of this section, the physician or other person to
whom the patient should have returned for treatment shall, unless
he or she has knowledge of good reasons why the patient failed to
return, make a report of the facts in the case to the local health
officer having proper jurisdiction. The local health officer shall
at once make an investigation to ascertain why the patient failed to return, and shall take any steps necessary in the matter to
protect the public health, including obtaining the arrest,
detention and quarantine of the patient.
WVC 16 - 4 - 10
§16-4-10. Minors.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any licensed
physician may examine, diagnose, or treat any minor with his or
her consent for any venereal disease without the knowledge or
consent of the minor's parent or guardian. The physician shall
not incur any civil or criminal liability in connection therewith
except for negligence or wilful injury.
WVC 16-4-11
§16-4-11. Precautions as to exposure to disease.
Whenever any attending physician or other person knows or has
good reasons to believe that any person having a sexually
transmitted disease is conducting himself or herself, or is about
to conduct himself or herself, in a manner as to expose other
persons to infection, the physician or other person shall at once
notify the local health officer having jurisdiction of the facts in
the case, giving the name and address of the person. The local
health officer, upon receipt of the notice, shall at once cause an
investigation to be made to ascertain what should be done in the
premises, and may do whatever is necessary to protect the public
health.
WVC 16 - 4 - 12
§16-4-12. Persons not under treatment.
Where a venereal disease report shows the person is
suffering with such disease in an infectious stage, and is not
under treatment, the local health officer shall at once
investigate and ascertain whether such person so reported is
conducting himself so as to expose others to infection, and shall
take such action as is necessary to protect the public health,
and may arrest, detain and quarantine such person if necessary.
WVC 16 - 4 - 13
§16-4-13. Sources of infection.
Whenever it shall appear from any venereal disease report
made by a physician, or other person, or otherwise, or whenever
other reasonable facts are brought to the attention of any local
health officer having proper jurisdiction which show that any
hotel, boardinghouse, rooming house, or other house, place or
thing is the source of infection of a venereal disease, without
such report or other facts showing the particular person or thing
therein as the source of such infection, then the local health
officer shall at once notify the owner, proprietor or person
operating, running or managing said hotel, boardinghouse, rooming
house, or other house, or place, of the essential facts in the
case; and if the place reported as being the source of such
infection be a place or house, commonly reputed in the
neighborhood to be a house or place of prostitution, or house or
place of like character or kind, or is commonly known to be such
by the police of the city (if in any municipality), then the
proprietor, manager or operator of such house and all the inmates
therein shall be apprehended and dealt with the same as other
persons are arrested, detained, examined, quarantined, and
treated, if found infected with a venereal disease.
WVC 16 - 4 - 14
§16-4-14. Issuance of warrant or order as to custody.
Upon receipt of a written report or of any other reliable
information by the local health officer that any person infected
with a venereal disease in an infectious stage is conducting
himself, or herself, or is about to conduct himself or herself,
so as to infect others, or expose others to infection; or that a
person infected with a venereal disease under treatment; or that
any person is a prostitute, or person associating with
prostitutes, and is reasonably suspected of being infected, or of
conducting himself or herself so as to infect others; or that a
person has been convicted in any court or municipality, or before
a justice of the peace, of an offense growing out of sex
immorality; or that a person is being held by any court,
municipality, or justice of the peace, pending an examination for
a venereal disease; or that a certain person has been reported in
a venereal disease report as the source of a venereal disease; or
when any other facts are brought to the attention of the local
health officer having proper jurisdiction, showing that any
person is reasonably suspected of being infected with a venereal
disease, or is about to conduct himself or herself so as to
infect others, said health officer shall at once issue his
warrant or order, if the party be not already in custody, and
shall proceed as hereinafter provided.
WVC 16 - 4 - 15
§16-4-15. Form and execution of warrant.
(a) Any warrant or order issued pursuant to the provisions of
section fourteen of this article shall be directed to the chief of
police if within a municipality, or to the county sheriff if not in
a municipality or to any other officer qualified to execute
process, directing the officer to apprehend the person mentioned,
and to bring him or her before the health officer at a time and
place set out in the warrant or order, there to be further dealt
with as provided by law. The officer to whom the warrant is
directed shall execute the warrant in the same manner as other
papers of like character or kind.
(b) Pending a hearing in the matter the officer may for
safekeeping, lodge the person apprehended under warrant, in jail or
in any other place of detention that has been provided for such
persons. The health officer may at his or her discretion and by
indorsement on the warrant at the time of its issuance, direct any
other disposition to be made of the person arrested, before trial.
The officer executing the warrant shall be guided by the warrant,
but may not be held responsible if the person arrested escapes. (c) The warrant is sufficient if it is in words and figures as
follows (the blanks to be filled as necessary in each case):
State of West Virginia, Office of ..........................
County (or City) of ......... County (or City) of ..........
.......................... Officer.
To................, Chief of Police or Sheriff of .......... City, of County of ...............:
It having been brought to the attention of the undersigned
health officer for (city or county) of ................, West
Virginia, that .............., reported as living or residing at
............... in (city or county), is infected, or is reasonably
suspected of being infected, with one or more sexually transmitted
diseases by reason of the fact that .................. has been
reported as (set out any reasons set in section fourteen of this
article, or other reasons)
.................................................................
.................................................................
and therefore reasonably suspected of being infected; and as the
diseases have been declared to be infectious, contagious,
communicable and dangerous to the public health.
This warrant commands you to apprehend ......................,
if found within your jurisdiction, and to bring ................
before me at my office in the city or county of ..................
on the .............. day of ..............., 19 ...., at ........
o'clock, .... M, there to be further dealt with as provided by law.
Given under my hand, this the ..................... day of
................., 19 .....
.....................................
Health Officer or Commissioner.
City (or County) of ........................................
West Virginia.
WVC 16 - 4 - 16
§16-4-16. Hearing on warrant; detention.
When a party is brought in for a hearing upon arrest under
the warrant provided in the preceding section, the health officer
shall at once proceed to ascertain the facts in the case, and to
this end he may summon witnesses, and administer oaths to such
witnesses touching their testimony, and may commit for contempt
for failure to answer proper questions, and may, if proper,
discharge the party from further custody; but if from the
testimony it appears that the party so apprehended is properly
classifiable under any subdivision of section four of this
article, touching persons reasonably suspected of being infected
with a venereal disease, then such party shall not be released
from custody until proof has been made showing the party is
already under treatment from a reputable physician, or other
person, or until an examination has been made to ascertain
whether in fact said party is so infected, and results of all
tests and examinations are known, and shall make all orders
touching the care, custody, and examination of the party as are
reasonably necessary in the premises, and if it is found that
said party is infected, then he may make any other orders that
may be necessary touching the treatment of such party, and if
said party is suffering with one or more venereal diseases in an
infectious stage, said party shall not be released from custody
until the diseases are past such infectious stage, and said party
may be detained or quarantined in any place or institution
provided for the purpose, or in the patient's own home if the
health officer thinks best; and if no other place is available for such purposes, then such party shall be detained in the city
or county jail, as the case may be. And it shall be the duty of
every city and every county in the state to take this contingency
in hand when they are making up their estimates for taxation and
levy purposes and to provide therefor.
WVC 16 - 4 - 17
§16-4-17. Release from detention.
If as a result of the tests and examination provided to be
made in the preceding section, it is shown that the party so
examined is suffering with a venereal disease, not in an
infectious state, said party may be released from further
detention upon signing the agreement herein required to be
provided, and which agreement shall be signed by the persons who
have become noninfectious under treatment and detention, but who
have not been cured. All persons signing the agreement mentioned
above shall observe its provisions; and any failure to do so
shall be deemed a misdemeanor, and shall be punished as
hereinafter provided. The agreement mentioned above shall be
sufficient if in words and figures following, after the blanks
have been filled to suit each individual case:
Agreement to be signed by persons who are suffering with a
venereal disease and are to be released from detention or
quarantine, before being cured, or by persons who voluntary
submit themselves for treatment to the health clinics as provided
by law. State of West Virginia,
County (or City) of ________________
Witnesseth, That I, _________________, residing at
_______________, in the county of __________, State of West
Virginia, do hereby acknowledge the fact that I am at this time
infected with a venereal disease, to wit: with _____________ and
that I agree to place myself under the care of
____________________ within _____________ hours hereafter, and
that I will remain under treatment of said physician or clinic until released by the health officer of ______________________,
or until my case is transferred with the approval of said health
officer to another regularly licensed physician or approved
clinic; and that I further agree to report to the health officer
above, within four days after beginning treatment from the above
physician or clinic, of the medical treatment applied in my case,
and that I will report thereafter as often as may be required of
me by the health officer; and that I further agree to take all
the precautions recommended by the health officer to prevent the
spread of the above disease to other persons, and to this end
that I will perform no act that might expose other persons to the
above disease; and that I further agree, until finally released
by the health officer, to notify him of any change in my address,
and to obtain his consent before moving my abode outside his
jurisdiction.
Witness my hand, this the _____________ day of
_______________, 19__.
_________________________________
(Signature of Patient)
Approved this the _____ day of __________________, 19__. _________________________________
(Local Health Officer)
WVC 16 - 4 - 18
§16-4-18. Employment of infected person.
It shall be unlawful for any person having a venereal
disease in an infectious stage to be engaged as a barber in any
barbershop in the state, or to be engaged in any capacity in any
bakery in the state, or to be employed at any hotel, restaurant,
eating house, lunch counter, or other public place, as a cook, or
cook's helper, or as a waiter, or in any other capacity whatever,
where he may come in contact with food about to be served; and it
shall be the duty of every physician or other person reporting a
case of venereal disease hereunder required, to state in said
report whether or not said person so reported is so engaged, and
if so, to give the place where such party is so employed; and it
shall be the duty of the local health officer, upon receipt of a
report showing a person is so engaged, at once to notify the
party to discontinue such employment; and if said party so
notified fails or refuses to discontinue such employment within
twenty-four hours after notice, then the party or parties
employing said infected person shall be notified of the fact, and
if such employer fails or refuses to take steps to have such
infected person discontinue work within twenty-four hours after
receiving notice from the health officer, he shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and every twenty-four hours thereafter that such
infected party continues in the employment of said employer shall
be a separate offense upon the part of said employer. In the
meantime said health officer may, if the infected party is not
under treatment, have the infected person arrested, detained and
quarantined, or otherwise dealt with as may seem best to said health officer.
WVC 16 - 4 - 19
§16-4-19. Voluntary submission to examination and treatment;
charges; disposition of money collected.
Any resident of the state may at any time report to any
municipal or county health officer having jurisdiction of the
case, and voluntarily submit himself to all tests and examination
as are necessary to ascertain whether in fact the person
submitting himself for examination is infected with a venereal
disease; and said health officer to whom any party has applied as
above for tests and examination shall provide for making all such
tests and examinations as are necessary to ascertain whether in
fact said party so applying be so infected with a venereal
disease. If such tests and examinations show said party so
applying to be so infected, then said party shall elect whether
he will take treatment of a private physician, or whether he will
take treatment to be provided by the health officer through a
clinic or otherwise, and if he elects to take treatment through
the local health officer's arrangement, he may be required to pay
for such treatment at a charge which shall in no case exceed the
sum of five dollars for each dose of "neo" or arsphenamine
administered for syphilis, and at a nominal cost for other
medicines used; but if the patient is unable to pay anything, he
shall be treated free of charge under the direction of the local
health officer, at a clinic or otherwise. All proper charges for
such examination and treatment as may be necessary hereunder
shall be a proper charge against the municipality or county, as
the case may be, whether said party so taking treatment lived in
or out of a municipal corporation. And whether said person proposing to take treatment as provided hereunder elect to take
from a private physician or elect to take treatment under the
direction of the local health officer, he shall first sign the
agreement required to be signed by persons about to be released
from detention or quarantine, and shall observe all its
provisions, and so long as such person so signing shall so
observe these provisions he need not be detained or quarantined
pending treatment, except that no person who is known as a
prostitute, or as a person associating with such, or as a person
who resides in any house having the reputation of being a house
of prostitution, or who frequents the same, shall be allowed at
liberty if infected with a venereal disease in an infectious
stage, even though he does voluntarily submit for examination and
treatment and does take treatment under the provisions of this
section.
All money collected under this section shall be paid into a
clinic fund, if one is provided, and if not then into the county
or city treasury, as the case may be; and the local health
officer having jurisdiction shall collect and account for such
funds collected hereunder.
WVC 16 - 4 - 20
§16-4-20. Communication of disease; certificate.
It shall be unlawful for any person suffering with an
infectious venereal disease to perform any act which exposes
another person to infection with said disease, or knowingly to
infect or expose another person to infection with such disease;
and no physician, health officer or other person shall give any
certificate showing a person to be free from a venereal disease,
but such certificate shall simply state the results of tests and
examinations that may have been made, and what tests were made to
arrive at the results stated.
WVC 16 - 4 - 21
§16-4-21. Quarantine.
In establishing quarantine for a venereal disease under the
provisions of this article, the health officer establishing said
quarantine may confine any person infected, or reasonably
suspected of having such venereal disease, or any other person
liable to spread such disease, to the house or premises in which
such infected person lives, or he may require any such person to
be quarantined in any other place, hospital or institution in his
jurisdiction that may have been provided. If no such place has
been provided, then such person shall be confined in the county
or city jail under a quarantine order, and such jails shall
always be available for such purposes. But if such person is to
be quarantined in his home, then said health officer shall
designate the area, room or rooms, that such person is to occupy
while so confined, and no one except the attending physician or
his immediate attendants shall enter or leave such room or rooms
so designated without permission of said health officer, and no
one except the local health officer shall terminate said
quarantine, and this shall not be done until the diseased person
has become noninfectious as determined by thorough clinical
tests, or permission has been given by the West Virginia state
director of health. If, to make any quarantine effective as
provided herein, it becomes necessary, the local health officer
may summon a sufficient guard for the enforcement of his orders
in the premises. And every person who fails or refuses to obey
or comply with any order made by said health officer hereunder,
or under any other section concerning quarantine, and every person summoned as a guard who shall, without a lawful excuse
therefor, fail or refuse to obey the orders and directions of the
health officer in enforcement of said quarantine, shall be guilty
of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished as hereinafter provided.
WVC 16 - 4 - 22
§16-4-22. Physicians to furnish statement of qualifications and
facilities for treatment of venereal diseases.
It shall be the duty of every physician or other person in
the state who proposes to treat or does treat venereal diseases
herein, to file with the director of the bureau of venereal
diseases of the state, upon a blank to be furnished by said
director, a statement showing something of his preparation,
experience and facilities in and for the treatment of such
diseases; and if he fail or refuse to make such statement, or if
he treat a patient for any of said diseases without first having
made such statement, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and
shall be punished as hereinafter provided.
WVC 16 - 4 - 23
§16-4-23. Costs and expenses of enforcement; jointly established
places of detention.
All costs and expenses necessary to reasonably carry out the
provisions of this article, touching the care, custody,
detention, and treatment of persons coming within the purview of
its provisions, shall be a general charge against the
municipalities or counties, as the case may be, unless special
arrangements have been made to defray such expenses. Where
conditions and locations are such that more economical results
may be secured, one or more municipalities, or counties and
municipalities, may join together and establish one or more
places for treatment and detention, as may be arranged by the
several parties concerned, and to be supported upon a basis to be
determined between them, and when this agreement has been made a
matter of record by each party thereto, funds may be levied and
expended by the several parties in pursuance of such agreement.
WVC 16-4-24
§16-4-24. Offenses by druggists.
(a) No druggist, pharmacist or other person, not a licensed
physician under the laws of the state, may prescribe, recommend,
sell, compound or mix any drugs, medicines or other substances to
be used for the cure or alleviation of a sexually transmitted
disease, including drugs, medicines or substances that are
patented, proprietary or otherwise, unless:
(1) The druggist or pharmacist receives a written
prescription, formula or order written for the person for whom the
drugs or medicines are compounded and signed by a physician
licensed to practice under the laws of the state; or
(2) The drug being recommended or sold has received federal
food and drug administration approval for over-the-counter use.
(b) All drugs, medicines or substances that are known to the
medical profession as being commonly used for the cure or
alleviation of sexually transmitted diseases, whether the name is
on the bottles or labels or not, is subject to the prohibitions
established pursuant to the provisions of this section.
(c) All drugstores shall be at all times open to the
inspection of any local health officer, or to any party designated
by the director of the sexually transmitted diseases program of the
state, to determine whether the provisions of this section are
being carried out by the druggists or stores. A sale by a clerk is
considered a sale by the owner or proprietor, and both may be
prosecuted under the provisions of this article for a misdemeanor.
WVC 16 - 4 - 25
§16-4-25. Advertisements concerning venereal disease, etc.;
penalty; exceptions.
Whosoever publishes, delivers or distributes or causes to be
published, delivered or distributed in any manner whatsoever, in
this state, any advertisement concerning a venereal disease, lost
manhood, lost vitality, impotency, sexual weakness, seminal
emissions, varicocele, self-abuse or excessive sexual indulgence,
and calling attention to a medicine, article or preparation that
may be used therefor, or to a person or persons from whom, or an
office or place at which, information, treatment or advice
relating to such disease, infirmity, habit or condition may be
obtained, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred nor more
than three hundred dollars, or imprisonment in the county jail
not to exceed six months, or both, in the discretion of the
court.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as to prevent
legitimate and legal public notices, placards, etc., issued under
the direction of the state department of health or as to prevent
sending out literature by either the state department of health
or the United States public health service.
WVC 16 - 4 - 26
§16-4-26. Offenses generally; penalties; jurisdiction of
justices; complaints.
Any person violating any provision of this article, where no
other punishment is provided, shall be punished by a fine of not
less than ten nor more than one hundred dollars, and may in
addition thereto, at the discretion of the judge or justice
trying the case, be imprisoned in jail for a period of not to
exceed thirty days.
Justices of the peace shall have jurisdiction to try and
determine all offenses arising under any provision of this
article. Any citizen of the state may make complaint before a
justice of any offense hereunder, and all proceedings shall be in
the name of the state, and security for costs shall not be
required, nor shall costs be adjudged against complainant unless
it appears that no reasonable grounds for making complaint
existed, and only then when it is made to appear that complainant
acted in bad faith.
WVC 16 - 4 - 27
§16-4-27. Additional power and authority of local health
officers.
The local health officer, in exercising any of the powers or
authority vested in him by sections nine, ten, eleven, twelve,
sixteen and twenty-one of this article with respect to any
patient, minor or other person suffering or believed by him to be
suffering from any venereal disease or diseases, may forthwith
cause any such patient, minor or other person to be delivered
into the custody of the state department of health for detention
and treatment as provided in this article.
WVC 16 - 4 - 28
§16-4-28. Detention places.
The state department of health is hereby authorized and
empowered to establish and provide a suitable place or places in
the state of West Virginia for the detention of persons found to
be suffering from any of the venereal diseases defined in section
one of this article and to supervise, use and maintain such place
or places in a manner deemed necessary or desirable in carrying
out the provisions of this article.
WVC 16 - 4 - 29
§16-4-29. Detention and treatment.
There shall be accepted and received into the custody of the
state department of health at such place or places provided for
in the next preceding section, persons found upon investigation
and examination to be suffering from venereal diseases as defined
in section one of this article, for the purpose of detention and
necessary medical attention and treatment thereat or therein,
until found to be and pronounced cured of the venereal disease or
diseases from which they are suffering.
WVC 16 - 4 - 30
§16-4-30. Continuous jurisdiction.
The state department of health is vested with and given
continuous jurisdiction, authority and control over all persons
received at and to be detained in or on the place or places
provided for in the preceding sections, for all the purposes of
this article, and until such persons are found upon proper
examination to be and pronounced entirely free from and cured of
any venereal disease or symptoms of such disease existing.
Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2012 1st Special Session