Title 41, Public Health

(a) The following persons who act in compliance with this chapter are not civilly or criminally liable for furnishing the information required hereunder:(a) A hospital, clinical laboratory, cancer treatment center or other health-care facility;(b) An administrator, officer or emp…

Any person or entity who fails to provide the information required to be provided to the cancer registry or who misuses the information provided to the cancer registry shall be subject to a civil penalty of Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for each such failure or misuse. Such penalty shal…

(a) The following words shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:(a) “Board” means the State Board of Health.(b) “Department” means the State Department of Health. (a) “Board” means the State Board of Health. (b) “Department” means the…

(1) The department may establish and maintain a central cancer registry for the state. (2) The cancer registry shall be a central data bank of accurate, precise and current information that medical authorities agree serves as an invaluable tool in the early recognition, preventio…

(1) The board may adopt rules and regulations that the board considers necessary to implement this chapter. (2) The board in its rules and regulations shall specify the types of information to be provided to cancer registry and the persons and entities who are required to provide…

The department, in cooperation with other cancer reporting organizations and research institutions, may publish reports the department determines are necessary or desirable to carry out the purpose of this chapter.

This chapter may be cited as the “Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Education Act.”

(a) The purposes of this chapter are:(a) To create a statewide program to promote public awareness and knowledge about the causes of osteoporosis, personal risk factors, the value of prevention and early detection and the options available for treatment;(b) To enhance knowledge a…

(a) The State Department of Health may:(a) Add sufficient qualified staff to implement the Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Education Program established by Section 41-93-7;(b) Provide appropriate training for staff of the Osteoporosis Prevention and Treatment Education Prog…

(1) The State Department of Health may establish, maintain and promote an osteoporosis prevention and treatment education program in order to raise public awareness, educate consumers and educate health professionals and teachers, and for other purposes, as provided in this secti…

(1) The department may accept grants, services and property from the federal government, foundations, organizations, medical schools and other entities as may be available for the purposes of fulfilling the obligations of this program. (2) The department shall seek any federal wa…

(1) Definitions. In this section:(a) “Department” means the Mississippi Department of Health.(b) “State Health Officer” means the Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Health.(c) “State agency” means a department, institution, commission or other agency that is in t…

(a) For purposes of this chapter:(a) “Mississippi qualified health center” means a public or nonprofit entity that provides comprehensive primary care services that:(i) Has a community board of directors, the majority of whom are users of such centers;(ii) Accepts all patients th…

(1) The Mississippi Qualified Health Center Grant Program is established, under the direction and administration of the State Department of Health, for the purpose of making service grants to Mississippi qualified health centers for their use in:(a) Providing care to uninsured or…

(1) Any Mississippi qualified health center desiring to participate in the program shall make application for a service grant to the department in a form satisfactory to the department. The department shall receive service grant proposals from Mississippi qualified health centers…

There is created a special fund in the State Treasury to be known as the Mississippi Qualified Health Center Grant Program Fund, from which service grants and expenditures authorized in connection with the program shall be disbursed. All monies received by legislative appropriati…

(1) There is created the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management, hereinafter referred to as the “council,” within the State Department of Health to be in existence for the period from July 1, 2001, until July 1, 2006, or until the council is established as a non…

(1) The chairman of the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1, with participation from the members of the council, may develop and implement a plan to establish the council as a nonprofit corporation under Mississippi law. For…

(1) There is created the Task Force on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, which will be responsible for making available state-of-the-art information on heart disease and stroke education, prevention and treatment to health-care providers in Mississippi. The task force will ser…

(1) The Task Force on Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention has the following duties:(a) Undertake a statistical and qualitative examination of the incidence and causes of heart disease and stroke deaths and risks, including identification of subpopulations at highest risk for deve…

This chapter may be known and cited as the “Mississippi Health Care Rights of Conscience Act.”

(1) A civil action for damages or injunctive relief, or both, may be brought for the violation of any provision of this chapter. It shall not be a defense to any claim arising out of the violation of this chapter that such violation was necessary to prevent additional burden or e…

The provisions of this chapter are declared to be severable, and if any provision, word, phrase or clause of this chapter or the application thereof to any person shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter.

(a) As used in this chapter:(a) “Health-care service” means any phase of patient medical care, treatment or procedure, including, but not limited to, the following: patient referral, counseling, therapy, testing, diagnosis or prognosis, research, instruction, prescribing, dispens…

(1) Rights of Conscience. A health-care provider has the right not to participate, and no health-care provider shall be required to participate in a health-care service that violates his or her conscience. However, this subsection does not allow a health-care provider to refuse t…

(1) Rights of Conscience. A health-care institution has the right not to participate, and no health-care institution shall be required to participate in a health-care service that violates its conscience. However, this subsection does not allow a health-care institution to refuse…

(1) Rights of Conscience. A health-care payer has the right to decline to pay, and no health-care payer shall be required to pay for or arrange for the payment of a health-care service that violates its conscience. However, this subsection does not allow a health-care payer to de…

(1) There is created the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Panel, whose primary purpose is to review fetal deaths and deaths of infants up to one (1) year of age and establish strategies to prevent infant deaths. The review panel shall be multidisciplinary and composed of such me…

(1) There is created the Child Death Review Panel, whose primary purpose is to foster the reduction of infant and child mortality and morbidity in Mississippi and to improve the health status of infants and children. (2) The Child Death Review Panel shall be composed of seventeen…

(1) Mandatory reporters: All law enforcement officers, firefighters, child protection service employees, medical care personnel, doctors, nurses, medical examiners, coroners, health care providers, and all agents and employees of the State Medical Examiner’s office, and any other…

(1) The State Department of Health is authorized to establish the Maternal Mortality Review Committee to review maternal deaths and establish strategies to prevent maternal deaths. The committee shall be multidisciplinary and be composed of such members as deemed appropriate by t…

(1) The Mississippi Legislature recognizes the devastating impact that tobacco use has on the citizens of our state. Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death and disease in this country and this state. Each year, thousands of Mississippians lose their lives to di…

(1) There is established in the State Treasury a special fund to be known as the Tobacco Control Program Fund, which shall be comprised of the funds specified in subsection (2) of this section and any other funds that are authorized or required to be deposited into the special fu…

(1) There is hereby created the Office of Tobacco Control (office) which shall be an administrative division of the State Department of Health. (2) The Office of Tobacco Control, with the advice of the Mississippi Tobacco Control Advisory Board, shall develop and implement a comp…

(1) The Office of Tobacco Control shall be under the management of a director, who shall be appointed by the State Health Officer. The responsibility for implementation of the comprehensive and statewide tobacco education, prevention and cessation program shall be vested in the d…

(a) The Office of Tobacco Control shall perform the following duties, with the advice of the Mississippi Tobacco Control Advisory Council:(a) Develop and implement appropriate policies and procedures for the operation of the tobacco education, prevention and cessation program;(b)…

(1) There is created the Mississippi Tobacco Control Advisory Council, which shall consist of thirteen (13) members. The thirteen (13) members of the advisory council shall consist of the following:(a) Four (4) members appointed by the Governor, with one (1) member from a list of…

(1) As used in this section:(a) The term “public facility” means any building, gymnasium, athletic field, recreational area or park to which the public is invited, whether there is charge for admission or not.(b) The term “smoke” or “smoking” means inhaling, exhaling, burning, ca…

(1) As used in this section:(a) “Tanning device” means any equipment that emits radiation used for tanning of the skin, such as a sun lamp, tanning booth or tanning bed, and includes any accompanying equipment, such as protective eyewear, timers and handrails; and(b) “Tanning fac…

(1) The Legislature makes the following findings:(a) The United Health Foundation (UHF) ranks Mississippi fiftieth in overall health, fiftieth in infant mortality with an infant mortality rate of eleven (11) deaths per one thousand (1,000) live births, thirtieth in immunization c…

(1) The State Board of Health is authorized, in its discretion, to establish a Nurse-Family Partnership Pilot program in the State Department of Health, in conjunction with the Nurse-Family Partnership National Service Office. The pilot program shall be conditioned upon the avail…

(1) In addition to implementing the Nurse-Family Partnership Pilot program, the State Health Department jointly with the University of Mississippi Medical Center may:(a) Develop standards of care for premature infants born less than thirty-seven (37) weeks gestational age to help…

This chapter shall be known and may be cited as “The Patient’s Right to Informed Health Care Choices Act.”

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that:(a) There are a multitude of professional degrees using the term “doctor,” including Medical Doctor (M.D.); Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine (D.O.); Doctor of Dental Surgery (D.D.S.); Doctor of Podiatric Medicine (D.P.M.); Doctor of Optom…

(a) For the purposes of this chapter:(a) “Advertisement” means any communication or statement, whether printed, electronic or oral, that names the health care practitioner in relation to his or her practice, profession, or institution in which the individual is employed, voluntee…

(1) An advertisement for health care services that names a health care practitioner must identify the type of license held according to the definitions under this chapter. The advertisement shall be free from any and all deceptive or misleading information. (2) A health care prac…