South Carolina General Assembly
107th Session, 1987-1988

Bill 2920

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               2920
Ratification Number:       351
Act Number                 336
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Relating to the duties of the Department
                           of Health and Environmental Control in regard
                           to public health
View additional legislative information at the LPITS web site.

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

(A336, R351, H2920)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 44-1-110, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE DUTIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL IN REGARD TO PUBLIC HEALTH, IN GENERAL, SO AS TO ASSURE THE DEPARTMENT ACCESS TO MEDICAL RECORDS, TUMOR REGISTRIES, AND SPECIAL DISEASE RECORD SYSTEMS OF PHYSICIANS, HOSPITALS, AND HEALTH FACILITIES IN THE DEPARTMENT'S INVESTIGATION OF EPIDEMIC AND ENDEMIC DISEASES.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

Duties

SECTION 1. Section 44-1-110 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 44-1-110. The Department of Health and Environmental Control is invested with all the rights and charged with all the duties pertaining to organizations of like character and is the sole advisor of the State in all questions involving the protection of the public health within its limits.

It shall, through its representatives, investigate the causes, character, and means of preventing the epidemic and endemic diseases as the State is liable to suffer from and the influence of climate, location, and occupations, habits, drainage, scavengering, water supply, heating, and ventilation. It shall have, upon request, full access to the medical records, tumor registries, and other special disease record systems maintained by physicians, hospitals, and other health facilities as necessary to carry out its investigation of these diseases. No physician, hospital, or health facility, or person in charge of these records is liable in any action-at-law for permitting the examination or review. Patient-identifying information elicited from these records and registries must be kept confidential by the department and it is exempt from the provisions of Chapter 4 of Title 30. It shall supervise and control the quarantine system of the State. It may establish quarantine both by land and sea."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.