Chapter 16

Any two or more counties or any county or counties and one or more municipalities within or partially within the county or counties may combine to create, establish and maintain a combined local board of health organized pursuant to and with the powers and duties prescribed by th…

(a) If an abortion is performed on an unemancipated minor under the circumstances set forth in §16-2R-3(a) of this code, the licensed medical professional or his or her agent shall provide notice to the parent, guardian, or custodian of the unemancipated minor within 48 hours aft…

(a) When the authority proposes a change to the certificate of need standards, it shall file with the Secretary of State, for publication in the State Register, a notice of proposed action, including the text of all proposed changes, and a date, time and place for receipt of gene…

(a) Any physician or other licensed medical practitioner who intentionally or recklessly performs or induces an abortion in violation of this article is considered to have acted outside the scope of practice permitted by law or otherwise in breach of the standard of care owed to …

In every civil or criminal proceeding or action brought under this article, the court shall rule whether the anonymity of any female upon whom an abortion has been performed or attempted shall be preserved from public disclosure if she does not give her consent to such disclosure…

Any abortion performed or induced in this state is subject to the reporting requirements of §16-5-22.

(a) A physician performing an abortion upon an unemancipated minor shall provide the secretary a written report of the procedure within thirty days after having performed the abortion. The following information, in addition to any other information which may be required by the se…

A municipal board of health is composed of five members selected and appointed by vote of the governing body of the municipality. Each member appointed to a municipal board of health shall be a resident of the municipality. No more than two members who reside in the same municipa…

A person may make a written request to the authority for it to determine whether a proposed health service is subject to the certificate of need or exemption process. The authority may require that a person submit certain information in order to make this determination. A person …

Nothing in this article, nor in any order issued pursuant thereto, shall require that a physician perform an abortion or that any person be required to assist in the performance of an abortion if such physician or person, for any reason, medical or otherwise, does not wish to per…

A licensed medical professional who knowingly and willfully performs, induces, or attempts to perform or induce an abortion, with the intent to violate the provisions of §16-2R-3 of this code, is subject to disciplinary action by his or her applicable licensing board. If the lice…

Effective from the reenactment of this section during the third extraordinary session of the Legislature, 2022, this article is of no force or effect unless any provision of §16-2R-1 et seq. of this code is judicially determined to be unconstitutional.

(a) Within ninety days of the effective date of this article, the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Resources shall prepare a reporting form for physicians containing a reprint of this article and listing: (1) The number of females to whom the information described …

A county board of health is composed of five members selected and appointed by vote of the county commission. Each member appointed to the county board of health shall be a resident of the county. No more than two members who reside in the same magisterial district may be appoint…

(a) Except as provided in §16-2D-9, §16-2D-10, and §16-2D-11 of this code, the following proposed health services may not be acquired, offered, or developed within this state except upon approval of and receipt of a certificate of need as provided by this article: (1) The constru…

(a) Whenever a licensed medical professional performs or induces, or attempts to perform or induce an abortion and the child is born alive, the licensed medical professional shall: (1) Exercise the same degree of reasonable medical judgment to preserve the life and health of the …

(a) Any physician or other licensed medical practitioner who intentionally or recklessly performs or induces an abortion in violation of this article is considered to have acted outside the scope of practice permitted by law or otherwise in breach of the standard of care owed to …

Any physician or agent thereof who willfully violates the provisions of this article may be subject to sanctions as levied by the licensing board governing his or her profession.

A combined local board of health is composed of at least five members. The number of combined local board of health members to be selected by each participating county or municipality shall be established by agreement of the participating counties or municipalities. No more than …

Notwithstanding §16-2D-8 and §16-2D-11 of this code, these health services require a certificate of need but the authority may not issue a certificate of need to: (1) A health care facility adding intermediate care or skilled nursing beds to its current licensed bed complement, e…

Effective from the reenactment of this section during the third extraordinary session of the Legislature, 2022, this article is of no force or effect unless any provision of §16-2R-1 et seq. of this code is judicially determined to be unconstitutional.

(a) The term of office for members selected and appointed to a local board of health pursuant to the provisions of this article is five years. Members may serve until their duly qualified successors are selected and appointed by vote of the original appointing authority. Members …

Severability as provided in §2-2-10(b)(7) of this code is applicable to this article: Provided, That if this entire article is judicially determined to be unconstitutional, then the provisions of §16-2F-1 et seq., §16-2I-1 et seq., 16-2M-1 et seq., §16-2O-1, §16-2P-1, §16-2Q-1, a…

Effective from the reenactment of this section during the third extraordinary session of the Legislature, 2022, this article is of no force or effect unless any provision of §16-2R-1 et seq. of this code is judicially determined to be unconstitutional.

(a) The purpose of this article is to bring together the state law governing compulsory testing for tuberculosis (TB) of students and school personnel as well as the statutes pertaining to the treatment, control and commitment of persons with the disease at hospitals, clinics and…

(a) The purpose of this article is to provide a centralized repository of information on hazardous materials and to identify the chemical elements of such materials, the harmful effects of exposure to such materials and the proper recommended emergency medical treatment for expos…

(a) "Health care provider" means any licensed health care professional, organization or institution, whether public or private, under whose authority pertussis vaccine is administered. (b) "Major adverse reaction" means any serious illness, disability or impairment of mental, emo…

The state director of health is empowered to establish and strictly maintain quarantine at such places as he may deem proper and forbid and prevent the assembling of the people in any place, when the state director of health or any county or municipal health officer deems that th…

When used in this article: (a) "AIDS" means acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. (b) "Bureau" means the Bureau for Public Health. (c) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of the Bureau for Public Health. (d) "Convicted" includes pleas of guilty and pleas of nolo contendere accept…

(a) HIV-related testing should be recommended by healthcare providers as part of a routine screening for treatable conditions and as part of routine prenatal and perinatal care. A physician, dentist, nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, physician assistant or the commissioner may a…

(a) The director of the West Virginia department of health shall within one hundred eighty days of the passage of this article establish a list of hazardous materials, including their treatment and effect, which have been determined to be, or are suspected to be hazardous or toxi…

As used in this article: (1) "Active Tuberculosis" or "Tuberculosis" means a communicable disease caused by the bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is demonstrated by clinical, bacteriological, radiographic or epidemiological evidence. An infected person whose tuberculosi…

(a) Prior to the administration of pertussis vaccine, the health care provider shall provide to the individual's parent or guardian written information satisfying the requirements of this section, and by appropriate inquiries attempt to elicit the information necessary to make th…

The county board of health of any county may declare quarantine therein, or in any particular district or place therein, whenever in their judgment it is necessary to prevent the spread of any communicable or infectious disease prevalent therein, or to prevent the introduction of…

(a) Pupils found or suspected to have active tuberculosis shall be temporarily removed from school while their case is reviewed and evaluated by their personal physician and the local health officer. Pupils shall return to school when their personal physician and the local health…

(a) No person may disclose or be compelled to disclose the identity of any person upon whom an HIV-related test is performed, or the results of such a test in a manner which permits identification of the subject of the test, except to the following persons: (1) The subject of the…

(a) At the time of administration of pertussis vaccine to an individual, the health care provider shall record in a permanent record to which the patient or the patient's parent or guardian shall have access on request: (1) The date of each vaccination; (2) The manufacturer and l…

The state department of health, its agents and employees, and the local boards of health, in the absence of the state department, its agents and employees, when they have reason to believe that any steamboat or other watercraft navigating the Ohio river or its tributaries in this…

(a) Every physician practicing in this state, every public health officer in the state, and every chief medical officer having charge of any hospital or clinic or other similar public or private institution in the state shall report electronically or in writing to the local healt…

(a) If the person whose consent is necessary under this article for HIV-related testing or the authorization of the release of test results is unable to give such consent or authorization because of mental incapacity or incompetency, the consent or authorization shall be obtained…

(a) By guideline, the department shall establish a system, sufficient for the purposes of subsections (b) and (c) of this section, to collect data from the local health officers, from public and private health care providers and from parents on the incidence of pertussis and majo…

(a) Whenever a resident birth occurs, the commissioner shall promptly provide parents of the newborn child with information on immunizations mandated by this state or required for admission to a public, private and parochial school in this state or a state-regulated child care ce…

(a) A hospital licensed pursuant to the provisions of article five-b of this chapter shall offer to an inpatient who is sixty-five years of age or older an influenza immunization prior to discharge from October 1 of every year and continuing through March 1 of the following year.…

(a) A covered employer, as defined in this section, that requires as a condition of continued employment or as a condition of hiring an individual for employment, that such person receive a COVID-19 immunization or present documentation of immunization from COVID-19, shall exempt…

(a) As used in this section: (1) “COVID-19” has the same definition as provided in §55-19-3 of this code; (2) “Hospital” has the same definition as provided in §16-5B-1 of this code; (3) “Immunization” has the same definition as provided in §55-19-3 of this code; (4) “Proof of va…

(a) Any person aggrieved by a violation of this article has right of action in the circuit court and may recover for the violation: (1) Against any person who recklessly violates a provision of this article, liquidated damages of $1,000 or actual damages, whichever is greater; or…

(a) The department shall adopt guidelines, after notice and public hearing in accordance with the administrative procedures act, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code, setting forth: (1) The circumstances under which pertussis vaccine should not be administered; (2) The circumstance…

(a) The Bureau shall prescribe the written and electronic forms for reporting all required information regarding patients with tuberculosis. (b) The Bureau shall prescribe the written and electronic forms to be used in committing patients to any state hospital or other health car…

(a) Declaration of legislative findings and purpose. -- The Legislature finds and declares that early immunization for preventable diseases represents one of the most cost-effective means of disease prevention. The savings which can be realized from immunization, compared to the …

The cost of maintenance and treatment of patients admitted to state designated tuberculosis institutions shall be paid out of funds appropriated for the respective institutions. No patient shall be required to pay for such maintenance and treatment, but the institutions are autho…