Title 23 — Health and Safety

1. A person, other than a law enforcement officer or medical practitioner, who finds a disabled person shall make a reasonable effort to notify a law enforcement officer. If a law enforcement officer or medical practitioner is not present, a person who finds a disabled person may…

A person who, with intent to deceive, provides, wears, uses, or possesses a false identifying device or identification card of the type described in subsection 2 of section 23-28-02 is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

The duties imposed by this chapter are in addition to, and not in limitation of, other duties existing under the law of this state.

This chapter must be so applied and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this chapter among those states which enact it.

This chapter may be cited as the Uniform Duties to Disabled Persons Act.

In this chapter, unless the context or subject matter otherwise requires: 1. "Hospital" means an institution with an organized medical staff, permanent facilities including inpatient beds, medical services including physician services and continuous nursing services, to provide d…

1. The board of county commissioners of any county, or two or more boards of county commissioners acting jointly, shall, when requested to do so by petition of twenty percent of the qualified electors of the area to be included in a proposed hospital district, as determined by th…

Following the passage of the resolution of the board of county commissioners, the county auditor shall designate a time and place for a public meeting of all electors residing within the boundaries of the district as fixed by the resolution of the board of county commissioners. N…

At the time and place fixed by the county auditor for the public meeting as provided in section 23-30-03, the electors residing within the boundaries of the district shall, by approval of a majority of those present, establish election procedures and elect a board of directors of…

A regular meeting of the electors who are owners of any interest in real property assessed for taxation in the district and who are residing within the boundaries of a district must be held each calendar year at a time determined by the board of directors and special meetings may…

The board of directors has the following general powers: 1. To make an annual estimate of the probable expense for operating the district. 2. To annually certify such estimate to the proper county auditor or auditors in the manner provided by section 23-30-07. 3. To manage and co…

The board of directors shall annually estimate the probable expense for operating the hospital district. The estimate must be certified by the president and secretary to the proper county auditor or county auditors, on or before June thirtieth of each year. In the year for which …

No district may become indebted for an amount that may not be payable from twenty annual maximum tax levies as authorized by section 23-30-07. Within the limits herein authorized, the district shall have power to borrow money and to issue appropriate evidence of indebtedness ther…

The following must be deposited in a state or national bank qualified as a depository for public funds to the credit of the district fund and may be drawn out only by warrant: 1. All funds collected on behalf of the district through the levy of taxes. 2. All income and earnings o…

Any hospital district may enter into a contract with a hospital or with another district to consolidate or cooperate for mutual purposes, including, but not limited to, ambulance or emergency vehicle services, or may enter into a contract with any federal, state, or local governm…

1. Any territory which is adjacent to the boundary of an existing hospital district may be annexed to such district in the manner hereinafter provided. 2. The proceedings for the annexation, referred to in subsection 1, may be initiated by the presentation to the county auditor o…

As used in this chapter: 1. "Health care organization" means: a. A hospital; b. A hospital medical staff; c. A clinic; d. A long-term or extended care facility; e. An ambulatory surgery center; f. An emergency medical services unit; g. A physician; h. A group of physicians operat…

1. Peer review records are confidential and may be used by a peer review organization and the organization members only for conducting a professional peer review. 2. A health care organization may release reports, data compilations, analyses, and summaries, which are prepared by …

Any report, data, data compilation, analyses, or summary that is generated by a peer review organization and made available to the department of health and human services or the public by the department of health and human services, the North Dakota hospital association, or the N…

1. Peer review records are privileged and are not subject to subpoena or discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil or administrative action, except: a. Records gathered from an original source that is not a peer review organization; b. Testimony from any person as to m…

1. A peer review organization shall report to an investigative panel of the North Dakota board of medicine any information that indicates a probable violation of subdivision d, e, p, or q of subsection 1 of section 43-17-31. 2. A health care organization is guilty of a class B mi…

This chapter does not relieve any health care provider of any liability that the provider has incurred or may incur to a patient as a result of furnishing health care services to the patient.

1. A person furnishing peer review records to a peer review organization with respect to any patient examined or treated by a health care provider is not, by reason of furnishing the records, liable in damages to any person or for willful violation of a privileged communication. …

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Board of health" means a district, county, city, or tribal board of health. 2. "Department" means the department of health and human services. 3. "Governing body" means, as applicable, a city commission, city cou…

1. All land in the state must be in a public health unit. 2. At a minimum, a public health unit shall provide the following core functions: a. Communicable disease control, which must include: (1) Conducting of disease surveillance for the purpose of preventing and controlling co…

An Indian nation that occupies a reservation the external boundaries of which border more than four counties may form a health district or public health department as provided in this chapter. A tribal public health unit and bordering public health units shall collaborate regardi…

Repealed by S.L. 2025, ch. 248, § 4.

Repealed by S.L. 2025, ch. 248, § 4.

1. The department shall advise boards of health. 2. A city's, county's, or tribe's governing body may establish a public health unit by creating and appointing a board of health, which in the case of a city, may be composed of the city's governing body, or in the case of a tribe,…

1. Upon the adoption of a resolution, the governing body may form a single county, multicounty, city-county, or tribal health district. 2. Notwithstanding this chapter, in a county without a countywide public health unit, the board of county commissioners, upon adoption of a reso…

1. Upon adoption of a resolution, a county that is not included in any public health unit may request inclusion as a part of an existing health district. Upon receipt of a request to become part of an existing health district, the district board of health shall consider the reque…

1. Except for a tribal health district, if a health district has been in operation for two years, the district may be dissolved as provided for under this section. If a petition is filed with the county auditor of each county of a health district which is signed by qualified elec…

1. Except for a tribal health district, a district board of health shall prepare a budget for the next fiscal year at the time at which and in the manner in which a county budget is adopted and shall submit this budget to the joint board of county commissioners for approval. In t…

Except when in conflict with a local ordinance or a civil service rule within a board of health's jurisdiction, or a tribal code, ordinance, or policy, each board of health: 1. Shall keep records and make reports required by the department. 2. Shall prepare and submit a public he…

1. If necessary for the protection of public health to abate or remove any nuisance, source of filth, or cause of sickness, the board of health shall serve notice on the owner or occupant of the property requiring the owner or occupant, at the owner's or occupant's expense, to re…

1. A district board of health may acquire by lease, purchase, construction, or gift for district health office use and control property for all purposes authorized by law or necessary to the exercise of the powers granted in this chapter. The district board of health may finance …

A city, county, or health district, as the case may be, shall prepare a county public health unit budget for the next fiscal year at the time and in the manner a county budget is adopted and submit the budget to the board of county commissioners for approval, shall prepare a city…

1. A local health officer shall serve a term of five years, subject to removal for cause by the governing body or the district board of health. The health officer must be a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state and need not be a resident of the public health unit.…

A person who violates any order, ordinance, or rule prescribed by any board of health or health officer or any rule adopted under this chapter is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

As used in this chapter: 1. "Bite" means any penetration of the skin by an animal's teeth. 2. "Clinical signs of rabies" means physical signs or animal behavior that would lead a reasonably prudent veterinarian to suspect an infection of rabies and the pursuit of a rabies diagnos…

1. The department shall establish a rabies control program that must place primary emphasis on human exposure to rabies. 2. The department shall consider national peer-reviewed recommendations for the control of rabies during the development of the department's rabies control pro…

1. The department, or an agency acting on the department's behalf, may seize and euthanize, impound at the owner's expense, or quarantine any animal if the state health officer, or the state health officer's designee, has probable cause to believe the animal presents clinical sig…

Except in the case of an emergency, the department, or another state or local agency acting on the department's behalf, may seize an animal located on private property only as authorized by an administrative search warrant issued under chapter 29-29.1. A warrant to seize an anima…

If a warrant is issued under section 23-36-04 and upon written request of the department, the game and fish department, the state veterinarian, or the wildlife services program of the United States department of agriculture animal and plant health inspection service shall provide…

The department may provide, at no cost, rabies postexposure biologics to an individual possibly exposed to rabies if the department determines the individual is financially unable to pay for the postexposure biologics treatment.

A person is guilty of an infraction if the person: 1. Conceals, releases, or removes an animal from the place where the animal is located with intent to impair that animal's availability for seizure under that warrant or order while the person is under the belief that a search wa…

Subject to any other requirements of section 32-12.2-02, the owner of an animal may bring a claim for money damages, and may recover an amount up to the replacement value of the animal, if the owner establishes that before the animal was seized and tested for rabies under this ch…

1. The owner of an animal is liable for the cost of quarantine and veterinary services, and for the cost of any postexposure treatment received by an individual who is possibly exposed to rabies by the owner's animal, if the animal is not: a. Licensed or registered as required by…

As used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Department" means the department of health and human services. 2. "Phototherapy device" means equipment that emits ultraviolet radiation and is used in treating disease. 3. "Tanning device" means equipment that e…

1. A person may not operate a tanning facility without a permit issued by the department under this chapter. The holder of a permit shall display the permit in a conspicuous place at the tanning facility for which the permit is issued. Permits issued under this chapter expire ann…