2005 Rhode Island Code - § 23-6-14 — Exceptions.

    Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 23-6-12 and 23-6-13, a physician or other health care provider may draw blood and secure a test for the presence of HIV without informed consent under the following conditions:

   (1) When the person to be tested is under one year of age;

   (2) When the person to be tested is between one and thirteen (13) years of age and appears to be symptomatic for HIV;

   (3) When the person to be tested is a minor under the care and authority of the department of children, youth, and families, and the director of that department certifies that an HIV test is necessary to secure health or human services for that person;

   (4) When a person (the complainant) can document significant exposure to blood or other bodily fluids of another person (the individual to be tested), during the performance of the complainant's occupation, providing:

   (i) The complainant completes an incident report within forty-eight (48) hours of the exposure, identifying the parties to the exposure, witnesses, time, place, and nature of the event;

   (ii) The complainant submits to a baseline HIV test and is negative on that test for the presence of HIV, within seventy-two (72) hours of the exposure; and

   (iii) There has been a significant percutaneous or mucus membrane exposure, i.e., needlestick, bite, splash over open wound, broken skin, or mucus membrane, by blood or bodily fluids of the person to be tested of a type and in sufficient concentration to permit transmission of HIV if present in those fluids.

   (5) In a licensed health care facility or in the private office of a physician in the event that an exposure evaluation group, as defined in § 23-6-11(2), determines that a health care provider has a significant exposure to the blood and/or body fluids of a patient and the patient or the patient's guardian refuses to grant informed consent for an HIV test to determine whether the patient has HIV, then, if a sample of the patient's blood is available, that blood shall be tested for HIV.

   (ii) If a sample of the patient's blood is not otherwise available and the patient refuses to grant informed consent, then the health care worker may petition the superior court for a court order mandating that the test be performed.

   (iii) Before a patient or a sample of the patient's blood is required to undergo an HIV test, the health care provider must submit to a baseline HIV test within seventy-two (72) hours of the exposure.

   (iv) No member of the exposure evaluation group who determines that a health care worker has sustained a significant exposure and authorizes the HIV testing of a patient, nor any person or health care facility who relies in good faith on the group's determination and performs the test, shall have any liability as a result of their actions carried out under this chapter, unless those persons act in bad faith.

   (6) In an emergency, where due to a grave medical or psychiatric condition, it is impossible to obtain consent from the patient or the patient's parent, guardian, or agent.

   (7) As permitted under §§ 23-18.6-12, 23-1-38, and 23-8-1.1.

   (8) Mandatory testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) conducted pursuant to §§ 42-56-37, 11-34-10, and 21-28-4.20.