Indiana § 16-41-10-2.5 - Consent by patient to testing and release of testing results; refusing testing; petitioning court

§ 16-41-10-2.5. Consent by patient to testing and release of testing results; refusing testing; petitioning court

Sec. 2.5. (a) A patient (including a patient who is unable to consent due to physical or mental incapacity) to whose blood or body fluids an emergency medical services provider, a health care provider, or a law enforcement officer is exposed as described in section 2 of this chapter is considered to have consented to:

(1) testing for the presence of a serious communicable disease of a type that has been epidemiologically demonstrated to be transmittable by an exposure of the kind experienced by the emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer; and

(2) release of the testing results to a medical director or physician described in section 3 of this chapter.

The medical director or physician shall notify the emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer of the test results.

(b) If a patient described in subsection (a) refuses to provide a blood or body fluid specimen for testing for a serious communicable disease, the exposed emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer, the exposed emergency medical services provider's, health care provider's, or law enforcement officer's employer, or the state department may petition the circuit or superior court having jurisdiction in the county:

(1) of the patient's residence; or

(2) where the employer of the exposed emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer has the employer's principal office;

for an order requiring that the patient provide a blood or body fluid specimen, including an emergency order for a blood or body fluid specimen under section 2.6 of this chapter.

(c) If a patient described in subsection (a) refuses to provide a blood or body fluid specimen for testing for a serious communicable disease, and that patient is a witness, bystander, or victim of alleged criminal activity (IC 35-31.5-2-73), the exposed emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer, the exposed emergency medical services provider's, health care provider's, or law enforcement officer's employer, or the state department may submit the form described in section 2 of this chapter to the medical director or physician of a hospital licensed under IC 16-21-2, IC 16-22-2, or IC 16-23-1. The medical director or physician described in this section shall notify the emergency medical services provider, health care provider, or law enforcement officer of the test results not more than forty-eight (48) hours after the medical director or physician receives the test results.

As added by P.L.212-2003, SEC.7. Amended by P.L.131-2018, SEC.2; P.L.224-2019, SEC.4; P.L.112-2020, SEC.44; P.L.190-2021, SEC.4.