H. B. 2127
(By Delegate Staton)
[Introduced February 17, 1997; referred to the
Committee on Health and Human Resources.]
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 procedure
for committing persons to state institutions for the
treatment of tuberculosis in persons who are alcoholics or
drug users; waiver of notice requirements for those persons
with communicable tuberculosis; testing; and reinstatement
of notice.
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.
The court may waive the notice required by this section if the
commissioner of the division of health or the commissioner's
designee presents evidence to the court that the person is either
an alcoholic or drug user in need of commitment to a
detoxification center or a chronically recalcitrant patient in
need of hospitalization for two or more weeks to render their
communicable tuberculosis noninfectious. If successful treatment
is demonstrated by laboratory or X ray or scans that the person
is no longer infectious, the notice of hearing shall be served
and the hearing may proceed.
(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.
(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) 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) 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.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to permit courts to waive
notice requirements before commitingcommitting a person to a state
institution for treatment of tuberculosis, when that person is an
alcoholic or drug users.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.