Title 23, Title 23 and Safety

Any licensee licensed pursuant to this chapter shall include in any advertising of its services that is directed to the general public, the following language: “In case of medical emergency dial 911.”

(a) For the purposes of this chapter, “peer review board” means any committee of a state or local professional association or society, or any committee authorized by the director of the department of health, or a committee of any licensed emergency medical service employing pract…

(a) Any emergency service worker responding on behalf of a licensed ambulance/rescue service, or a fire department or a law enforcement agency who has sufficient reason to believe that, in the course of their professional duties, they have been exposed to bodily fluids or other s…

(a) The ambulance service coordinating advisory board is hereby created and shall consist of twenty-five (25) members appointed as set out in this section. The governor shall appoint the members of the board as follows: (1) One mayor, town administrator, town manager, or other mu…

(a) The director of health, referred to as the “director,” shall have full authority to implement the provisions of this chapter and shall be guided by the purposes and intent of this chapter. (b) The director shall cooperate with hospitals, furnishers of ambulance services, loca…

The director shall establish minimum standards to be met in the following areas: (1) Licensing; (2) Vehicles; (3) Equipment for vehicles; (4) Personnel; (5) Training; (6) Communications; (7) Cooperation with other units; (8) Treatment of acutely ill or injured persons by ambulanc…

The director is responsible for the statewide supervision of ambulance and rescue services and all equipment and persons coming under the provisions of this chapter.

(a) A person shall not engage in the business or service of the transportation of patients upon any public way of the state unless that person holds a license by the director of health for engaging in that business or service. (b) A person shall not operate an ambulance on public…

The director of health shall issue regulations to govern the standards of suitability of ambulances for the transportation of patients from the standpoint of health, sanitation, safety, communications, maintenance, on-board medical equipment, safety equipment, extraction equipmen…

(a) The director of health, with the cooperation of hospitals and freestanding emergency-care facilities licensed in accordance with chapter 17 of this title, will develop a listing of supplies that are subject to mandatory restocking in accordance with subsection (b). (b) Every …

(a) Any person, firm, partnership, corporation, municipality, volunteer units, or any other business or organization providing ambulance service shall, at the time of license application, furnish the director of health with a list of all persons authorized to act as an attendant …

(a) Any license granted under this chapter may be suspended or revoked by the director for cause, after a hearing. Appeal from a decision of the director may be taken pursuant to the Administrative Procedures Act, chapter 35 of title 42. (b) Cause for suspension or revocation of …

Any person of the age of seventeen (17) or over shall be eligible to donate blood in any voluntary and non-compensatory blood program without the necessity of obtaining permission or authorization of his/her parent or guardian. Any person sixteen (16) years of age may donate his …

(a) No person or entity may collect blood, blood products, plasma or blood derivatives in the state of Rhode Island for transfusion unless it: (1) Is licensed as a hospital in the state of Rhode Island; or (2)(i) Is licensed as a clinical laboratory as defined in §§ 23-16.2 and 2…

(a) Any person of the age of sixteen (16) or over or married may consent to routine, emergency, medical or surgical care. A minor parent may consent to treatment of his or her child. (b) In addition to the provisions of subsection (a), any person, including, but not limited to, a…

“Abortion” for the purpose of this chapter means administering to a woman, known to be pregnant, any medicine, drug, substance, or thing whatever, or the employment upon her of any instrument or means whatever, with intent to terminate a pregnancy. The term shall not include the …

In order to insure that a woman’s consent to abortion is truly informed consent, an abortion shall be performed only after the woman has given her consent, in writing, in a form satisfying the provisions of § 23-4.7-5.

(a) Either the physician who is to perform the abortion or his or her authorized agent or another physician or his or her authorized agent shall: (1) Inform the woman that she is pregnant and inform her of the estimated gestational age of the fetus at the time of the disclosure. …

Where there is an emergency requiring immediate action, the requirements of this chapter may be waived. The woman’s attending physician shall certify in writing in the patient’s medical record that an emergency exists and the medical basis for his or her opinion.

(a) The woman’s written consent required by § 23-4.7-2 shall be on a form provided by the physician or facility and containing: (1) The disclosures required by § 23-4.7-3; and (2) The woman’s acknowledgment that either the physician who is to perform the abortion or his or her au…

Except in the case of a minor who has been found by a court of competent jurisdiction to be emancipated, if a pregnant woman is less than eighteen (18) years of age and has not married, an abortion shall not be performed upon her unless both the consent of the pregnant woman and …

Any physician who knowingly violates the requirements of this chapter shall be deemed to have engaged in “unprofessional conduct” for the purposes of § 5-37-5.1. The willful failure to provide the woman with the substance of the information pursuant to the requirements of § 23-4.…

If any section or provision of this chapter or the application of any section or provision is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other sections, provisions, or applications, and to this end the sections and provisions of this chapter are declared severable.

Every physician, surgeon, hospital, health maintenance organization, or any other healthcare facility or provider that takes a mammography x-ray of any individual within this state shall keep and maintain that mammography x-ray for the period required by the United States Food an…

Any person who has epilepsy, diabetes, a cardiac condition, or any other type of illness that causes temporary blackouts, semi-conscious periods, or complete unconsciousness, is authorized to wear an identification bracelet with the person’s name, type of illness, physician’s nam…

It shall be the duty of all law enforcement officers in this state to make a diligent effort to determine if any person they may find in a semi-conscious or unconscious condition is an epileptic or diabetic or a person who is suffering from any other type of illness which would c…

Any person who willfully and knowingly falsifies an identification or deliberately misrepresents an illness that causes blackouts, unconsciousness, or semi-conscious periods as described in § 23-5.1-1 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be sentenced to pay …

As used in this chapter: (1) “Continuing care” means providing or committing to provide board, lodging, and nursing services to an individual, other than an individual related by blood or marriage: (i) pursuant to an agreement effective for the life of the individual or for a per…

The provisions of chapter 13.1 of title 6 shall apply to all providers.

(a) Residents shall have the right of self-organization. No retaliatory conduct shall be permitted against any resident for membership or participation in a residents’ organization. The provider shall be required to provide to the organization a copy of all submissions to the dep…

(a) A person contracting with a provider for continuing care may terminate the continuing care contract, and the provider shall be liable to the person contracting for continuing care for repayment of all fees paid to the provider, facility, or person violating this chapter, toge…

(a) Providers existing prior to June 18, 1987 shall comply with this chapter’s provisions within six (6) months of that date. However, the department may extend the period within which an existing facility shall comply with this chapter for an additional six (6) months, for good …

(a) The department shall have the authority to adopt, amend, or repeal rules and regulations that are reasonably necessary for the enforcement of the provisions of this chapter. The department may issue regulations setting forth those transactions which shall require the payment …

(a) The department may make public or private investigations within or outside of this state it deems necessary to determine whether any person has violated any provision of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or order promulgated by the department. (b) For the purpose of any i…

Whenever it appears to the department that any person has engaged in, or is about to engage in, any act or practice constituting a violation of this chapter or any rule, regulation, or order issued under this chapter, the department may: (1) Issue an order directed at any such pe…

Any person who willfully and knowingly violates any provision of this chapter, or any rule, regulation, or order issued under this chapter, shall be subject to payment of a fine in the sum of one thousand dollars ($1,000).

(a) Except as provided in § 23-59-13, no provider shall engage in the business of providing or offering to provide continuing care at a facility in this state unless the provider has registered with the department with respect to the facility. (b) A registration statement shall b…

(a) The disclosure statement of each facility shall contain all of the following information unless the information is contained in the continuing care contract and a copy of that contract is attached to and made a part of the initial disclosure statement: (1) The name and busine…

At least three (3) days prior to the execution of a continuing care contract or the transfer of any money or other property to a provider by or on behalf of a prospective resident, whichever first occurs, the provider shall deliver to the person with whom the contract is to be en…

(a) Within four (4) months following the end of the provider’s fiscal year, each provider shall file with the department and make available by written notice to each resident at no cost an annual disclosure statement which shall contain the information required for the initial di…

(a) In addition to other provisions considered proper to effect the purpose of any continuing care contract, each contract executed on or after June 18, 1987 shall: (1) Provide for the continuing care of only one resident, or for two (2) or more persons occupying space designed f…

(a) No provider and no person or entity owning a provider shall sell or transfer, directly or indirectly, more than fifty percent (50%) of the ownership of the provider or of a continuing care facility without giving the department written notice of the intended sale or transfer …

The department may act as authorized by § 23-59-16 to protect residents or prospective residents when the department determines that: (1) A provider has been or will be unable, in such a manner as may endanger the ability of the provider to fully perform its obligations pursuant …

No act, agreement, or statement of any resident or by an individual purchasing care for a resident under any agreement to furnish care to the resident shall constitute a valid waiver of any provision of this chapter intended for the benefit or protection of the resident or the in…

The general assembly finds and declares that vehicle batteries are potentially harmful if improperly disposed of, and that it is necessary to adopt a special plan to control disposal and promote recycling of such batteries. This chapter sets forth a comprehensive plan for disposa…

If any clause, sentence, paragraph, or part of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall, for any reason, be adjudged by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, that judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the remainder of this …