Medical Mandated Reporting

(A) Any physician, nurse, or any other medical or emergency medical services personnel of a hospital, clinic, or other health care facility or provider who knowingly treats any person suffering from a gunshot wound or who receives a request for such treatment shall report within a reasonable time the existence of the gunshot wound to the sheriff’s department of the county in which the treatment is administered or a request is received. However, no report is necessary if a law enforcement officer is present with the victim while treatment is being administered.

(B) The reports provided for in subsection (A) may be made orally, or otherwise. A hospital, clinic, or other health care facility or provider may designate an individual to make the reports provided for in this section. However, a report must be made as soon as possible, but no later than the time of the victim’s release from that facility.

(C) A person required to make a report pursuant to this section or who participates in judicial proceedings resulting from the report, acting in good faith, is immune from civil and criminal liability which might otherwise result by reason of these actions. In all such civil and criminal proceedings, good faith is rebuttably presumed.

(D) For purposes of this section, the confidential or privileged nature of communication between physician and patient and any other professional person and his patient or client is abrogated and does not constitute grounds for failure to report or the exclusion of evidence resulting from a report made pursuant to this section.

(E) A person required to report the existence of a gunshot wound who knowingly fails to do so is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not more than five hundred dollars.

HISTORY: 1999 Act No. 69, Section 1.

Effective: June 4, 2015

Code 1976 § 16-25-65

16-25-65. Domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature; elements; penalty; statutory offense.

(A) A person who violates Section 16-25-20(A) is guilty of the offense of domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature when one of the following occurs. The person:

• (1) commits the offense under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life and great bodily injury to the victim results;
• (2) commits the offense, with or without an accompanying battery and under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life, and would reasonably cause a person to fear imminent great bodily injury or death; or
• (3) violates a protection order and, in the process of violating the order, commits domestic violence in the first degree.

(B) A person who violates subsection (A) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than twenty years.

(C) The provisions of subsection (A) create a statutory offense of domestic violence of a high and aggravated nature and must not be construed to codify the common law crime of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

(D) Circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life include, but are not limited to, the following:

• (1) using a deadly weapon;
• (2) knowingly and intentionally impeding the normal breathing or circulation of the blood of a household member by applying pressure to the throat or neck or by obstructing the nose or mouth of a household member and thereby causing stupor or loss of consciousness for any period of time;
• (3) committing the offense in the presence of a minor;
• (4) committing the offense against a person he knew, or should have known, to be pregnant;
• (5) committing the offense during the commission of a robbery, burglary, kidnapping, or theft; or
• (6) using physical force against another to block that person’s access to any cell phone, telephone, or electronic communication device with the purpose of preventing, obstructing, or interfering with:

(a) the report of any criminal offense, bodily injury, or property damage to a law enforcement agency; or

(b) a request for an ambulance or emergency medical assistance to any law enforcement agency or emergency medical provider.

Credits

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 519, § 1; 2003 Act No. 92, § 3, eff January 1, 2004; 2005 Act No. 166, § 3, eff January 1, 2006; 2015 Act No. 58 (S.3), Pt II, § 5, eff June 4, 2015