Title HS, Health and Safety Code

Sec. 81.082. ADMINISTRATION OF CONTROL MEASURES. (a) A health authority has supervisory authority and control over the administration of communicable disease control measures in the health authority's jurisdiction unless specifically preempted by the department. Control measures …

Sec. 81.0821. LEGISLATIVE PUBLIC HEALTH OVERSIGHT BOARD. (a) In this section, "board" means the legislative public health oversight board established under this section. (b) The legislative public health oversight board is established to provide oversight for declarations of publ…

Sec. 81.083. APPLICATION OF CONTROL MEASURES TO INDIVIDUAL. (a) Any person, including a physician, who examines or treats an individual who has a communicable disease shall instruct the individual about: (1) measures for preventing reinfection and spread of the disease; and (2) t…

Sec. 81.084. APPLICATION OF CONTROL MEASURES TO PROPERTY. (a) If the department or a health authority has reasonable cause to believe that property in its jurisdiction is or may be infected or contaminated with a communicable disease, the department or health authority may place …

Sec. 81.085. AREA QUARANTINE; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) If an outbreak of communicable disease occurs in this state, the commissioner or one or more health authorities may impose an area quarantine coextensive with the area affected. The commissioner may impose an area quarantine, if…

Sec. 81.086. APPLICATION OF CONTROL MEASURES TO PRIVATE AND COMMON CARRIERS AND PRIVATE CONVEYANCES. (a) This section applies to any private or common carrier or private conveyance, including a vehicle, aircraft, or watercraft, while the vehicle or craft is in this state. (b) If …

Sec. 81.087. VIOLATION OF CONTROL MEASURE ORDERS; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly refuses to perform or allow the performance of certain control measures ordered by a health authority or the department under Sections 81.083-81.086. (b) An…

Sec. 81.088. REMOVAL, ALTERATION, OR DESTRUCTION OF QUARANTINE DEVICES; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly or intentionally: (1) removes, alters, or attempts to remove or alter an object the person knows is a quarantine device, notice, or se…

Sec. 81.089. TRANSPORTATION; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person commits an offense if, before notifying the department or health authority at a port of entry or a place of first landing or first arrival in this state, the person knowingly or intentionally: (1) transports or causes to…

Sec. 81.090. DIAGNOSTIC TESTING DURING PREGNANCY AND AFTER BIRTH. (a) A physician or other person permitted by law to attend a pregnant woman during gestation or at delivery of an infant shall: (1) take or cause to be taken a sample of the woman's blood or other appropriate speci…

Sec. 81.091. OPHTHALMIA NEONATORUM PREVENTION; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A physician, nurse, midwife, or other person in attendance at childbirth shall use or cause to be used prophylaxis approved by the executive commissioner to prevent ophthalmia neonatorum. (b) A midwife is respon…

Sec. 81.092. CONTRACTS FOR SERVICES. The department may contract with a physician to provide services to persons infected or reasonably suspected of being infected with a sexually transmitted disease or tuberculosis if: (1) local or regional health department services are not ava…

Sec. 81.093. PERSONS PROSECUTED FOR CERTAIN CRIMES. (a) A court may direct a person convicted of an offense under Section 43.02 or 43.021, Penal Code, under Chapter 481 (Texas Controlled Substances Act), or under Sections 485.031 through 485.035 to be subject to the control measu…

Sec. 81.094. TESTING BY HOSPITALS OF PERSONS INDICTED FOR CERTAIN CRIMES. A hospital shall perform a medical procedure or test on a person if a court orders the hospital to perform the procedure or test on a person whom the court orders to undergo the procedure or test under Arti…

Sec. 81.095. TESTING FOR ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURE. (a) In a case of accidental exposure of a health care worker to blood or other body fluids of a patient in a licensed hospital, the hospital, following a report of the exposure incident, shall take reasonable steps to test the patient…

Sec. 81.0955. TESTING FOR ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURE INVOLVING A DECEASED PERSON. (a) This section applies only to the accidental exposure to the blood or other body fluids of a person who dies at the scene of an emergency or during transport to the hospital involving an emergency respo…

Sec. 81.101. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: (1) "AIDS" means acquired immune deficiency syndrome as defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States Public Health Service. (2) "HIV" means human immunodeficiency virus. (3) "Bona fide occupational qu…

Sec. 81.102. TESTS; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A person may not require another person to undergo a medical procedure or test designed to determine or help determine if a person has AIDS or HIV infection, antibodies to HIV, or infection with any other probable causative agent of AIDS …

Sec. 81.103. CONFIDENTIALITY; CRIMINAL PENALTY. (a) A test result is confidential. A person that possesses or has knowledge of a test result may not release or disclose the test result or allow the test result to become known except as provided by this section. (b) A test result …

Sec. 81.104. INJUNCTION; CIVIL LIABILITY. (a) A person may bring an action to restrain a violation or threatened violation of Section 81.102 or 81.103. (b) A person who violates Section 81.102 or who is found in a civil action to have negligently released or disclosed a test resu…

Sec. 81.105. INFORMED CONSENT. (a) Except as otherwise provided by law, a person may not perform a test designed to identify HIV or its antigen or antibody without first obtaining the informed consent of the person to be tested. (b) Consent need not be written if there is documen…

Sec. 81.106. GENERAL CONSENT. (a) A person who has signed a general consent form for the performance of medical tests or procedures is not required to also sign or be presented with a specific consent form relating to medical tests or procedures to determine HIV infection, antibo…

Sec. 81.107. CONSENT TO TEST FOR CERTAIN ACCIDENTAL EXPOSURES. (a) In a case of accidental exposure to blood or other body fluids under Section 81.102(a)(5)(D), the health care agency or facility may test a person who may have exposed the health care worker or other emergency res…

Sec. 81.108. TESTING BY INSURERS. The Insurance Code and any rules adopted by the commissioner of insurance for the Texas Department of Insurance exclusively govern all practices of insurers in testing applicants to show or help show whether a person has AIDS or HIV infection, an…

Sec. 81.109. COUNSELING REQUIRED FOR POSITIVE TEST RESULTS. (a) A positive test result may not be revealed to the person tested without giving that person the immediate opportunity for individual, face-to-face post-test counseling about: (1) the meaning of the test result; (2) th…

Sec. 81.151. APPLICATION FOR COURT ORDER. (a) At the request of the health authority, a municipal, county, or district attorney shall file a sworn written application for a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease. At the request of the department, t…

Sec. 81.1511. APPLICABILITY OF SUBCHAPTER TO GROUP. To the extent possible, and except as otherwise provided, if a group application is filed under Section 81.151(e), the provisions of this subchapter apply to the group in the same manner as they apply to an individual, except th…

Sec. 81.152. FORM OF APPLICATION. (a) An application for a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease must be styled using the person's initials and not the person's full name. (b) The application must state whether the application is for temporary or …

Sec. 81.153. APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEY. (a) The judge shall appoint an attorney to represent a person not later than the 24th hour after the time an application for a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease is filed if the person does not have an atto…

Sec. 81.1531. APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEY FOR GROUP. (a) A judge shall appoint an attorney to represent a group identified in a group application under Section 81.151(e) and shall appoint an attorney for each person who is listed in the application if requested by a person in the gro…

Sec. 81.154. SETTING ON APPLICATION. (a) The judge or a magistrate designated under this chapter shall set a date for a hearing to be held within 14 days after the date on which the application is served on the person. (b) The hearing may not be held within the first three days a…

Sec. 81.155. NOTICE. (a) The person and the person's attorney are entitled to receive a copy of the application and written notice of the time and place of the hearing immediately after the date for the hearing is set. (b) A copy of the application and the written notice shall be…

Sec. 81.156. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION. (a) The person's attorney may request information from the attorney general or the municipal, county, or district attorney, as appropriate, in accordance with this section if the attorney cannot otherwise obtain the information. The attorne…

Sec. 81.157. DISTRICT COURT JURISDICTION. (a) A proceeding under this chapter must be held in a district court of the county in which the person is found, resides, or is receiving court-ordered health services. (b) If a person subject to an order for temporary management is recei…

Sec. 81.158. AFFIDAVIT OF MEDICAL EVALUATION. (a) An affidavit of medical evaluation must be dated and signed by the commissioner or the commissioner's designee, or by a health authority with the concurrence of the commissioner or the commissioner's designee. The certificate must…

Sec. 81.159. DESIGNATION OF FACILITY. (a) The commissioner shall designate health care facilities throughout the state that are capable of providing services for the examination, observation, isolation, or treatment of persons having or suspected of having a communicable disease.…

Sec. 81.160. LIBERTY PENDING HEARING. The person who is the subject of an application for management is entitled to remain at liberty pending the hearing on the application unless the person is detained under an appropriate provision of this chapter. Acts 1989, 71st Leg., ch. 678…

Sec. 81.161. MOTION FOR ORDER OF PROTECTIVE CUSTODY. (a) A motion for an order of protective custody may be filed only in the court in which an application for a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease is pending. (b) The motion may be filed by the …

Sec. 81.162. ISSUANCE OF ORDER. (a) The judge or designated magistrate may issue a protective custody order if the judge or magistrate determines: (1) that the health authority or department has stated its opinion and the detailed basis for its opinion that the person is infected…

Sec. 81.163. APPREHENSION UNDER ORDER. (a) A protective custody order shall direct a peace officer, including a sheriff or constable, to take the person who is the subject of the order into protective custody and transport the person immediately to an appropriate inpatient health…

Sec. 81.164. APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEY. (a) The judge or designated magistrate shall appoint an attorney to represent a person who is the subject of a protective custody order who does not have an attorney when the order is signed. (b) Within a reasonable time before a hearing is h…

Sec. 81.165. PROBABLE CAUSE HEARING. (a) A hearing must be held to determine if: (1) there is probable cause to believe that a person under a protective custody order presents a substantial risk of serious harm to himself or others to the extent that the person cannot be at liber…

Sec. 81.166. ORDER FOR CONTINUED DETENTION. (a) The magistrate or master shall order that a person remain in protective custody if the magistrate or master determines after the hearing that an adequate factual basis exists for probable cause to believe that the person presents a …

Sec. 81.167. DETENTION IN PROTECTIVE CUSTODY. (a) The head of a facility or the facility head's designee shall detain a person under a protective custody order in the facility pending a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease or until the person is …

Sec. 81.168. RELEASE FROM DETENTION. (a) The magistrate or master shall order the release of a person under a protective custody order if the magistrate or master determines after the hearing under Section 81.165 that no probable cause exists to believe that the person presents a…

Sec. 81.169. GENERAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO HEARING. (a) Except as provided by Subsection (b), the judge may hold a hearing on an application for a court order for the management of a person with a communicable disease at any suitable location in the county. The hearing should be…