SB 2309

Abstract

Creates the Unidentified Patient Act. Provides that the Act may be referred to as the Elisha Brittman Law. Provides that upon the arrival of an unidentified patient into a hospital's emergency department the hospital shall take specified efforts towards identifying the patient. Requires a hospital to contact the local law enforcement agency and request that a missing person report be completed for an unidentified patient if the specified efforts are not possible or are unsuccessful. Provides that local law enforcement should be requested to enter an unidentified patient into the Federal Bureau of Investigation's National Crime Information Center database. Requires hospital staff to contact local law enforcement to perform fingerprinting services in an effort to identify an unidentified patient. Provides that hospital staff shall make a referral to the hospital's public information officer to obtain specified identifying materials and submit them to local media outlets if the fingerprinting services are not possible or are unsuccessful. Provides that if a hospital receives a claim from an individual of being an unidentified patient's next of kin, a DNA sample may be collected from the unidentified patient and the individual and verified either on-site or at an associated laboratory, but must be provided on a voluntary basis and shall be used solely to help identify the unidentified patient and any familial relations. Provides that if law enforcement requests an unidentified patient's information to help identify a suspect, fugitive, material witness, or missing person, the hospital and hospital personnel must disclose only the information allowed under the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. Defines terms.