NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1981 SESSION

CHAPTER 81

HOUSE BILL 146

AN ACT TO REQUIRE REPORTING OF POSITIVE TUBERCULOSIS TESTS BY LABORATORIES.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

Section 1. G.S. 130-82.2 is added to Article 8 of Chapter 130, as follows:

"§ 130-82.2. Persons in charge of laboratories shall report positive tuberculosis tests. - (a) The person in charge of any bacteriological or pathological laboratory rendering diagnostic service in this State shall report to the Department of Human Resources within seven days after diagnosis, the full name and other required information relating to the person whose sputa, gastric contents, or other specimens submitted for examination reveal the presence of tubercle bacilli. The report shall include the name and address of the physician or any person or agency referring the positive specimen for clinical diagnosis.

(b)        The Commission for Health Services is authorized to make rules prescribing the form and content of the report.

(c)        The information contained in the reports required by subsection (a) shall be provided by the Department of Human Resources to local health departments tor public health purposes. The reports shall be confidential, shall not be public records as defined by G.S. 132-1, and shall be admissible into evidence in any court only upon order of the court under the procedure set forth in G.S. 8-53.

(d)        The willful and unauthorized release by an employee or officer of any State or local agency, department, or commission of the information contained in the reports required by subsection (a) is a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of fifty dollars ($50.00), or imprisonment of 30 days or both."

Sec. 2. This act shall become effective July 1, 1981.

In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 12th day of March, 1981.