US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

     609.2241 Knowing transfer of communicable disease. 

    Subdivision 1.    Definitions.  As used in this section, 
 the following terms have the meanings given: 

    (a) "Communicable disease" means a disease or condition 
 that causes serious illness, serious disability, or death; the 
 infectious agent of which may pass or be carried from the body 
 of one person to the body of another through direct transmission.

    (b) "Direct transmission" means predominately sexual or 
 bloodborne transmission. 

    (c) "A person who knowingly harbors an infectious agent" 
 refers to a person who receives from a physician or other health 
 professional: 

    (1) advice that the person harbors an infectious agent for 
 a communicable disease; 

    (2) educational information about behavior which might 
 transmit the infectious agent; and 

    (3) instruction of practical means of preventing such 
 transmission. 

    (d) "Transfer" means to engage in behavior that has been 
 demonstrated epidemiologically to be a mode of direct 
 transmission of an infectious agent which causes the 
 communicable disease. 

    (e) "Sexual penetration" means any of the acts listed in 
 section 609.341, subdivision 12, when the acts described are 
 committed without the use of a latex or other effective barrier. 

    Subd. 2.    Crime.  It is a crime, which may be 
 prosecuted under section 609.17, 609.185, 609.19, 609.221, 
 609.222, 609.223, 609.2231, or 609.224, for a person who 
 knowingly harbors an infectious agent to transfer, if the crime 
 involved: 

    (1) sexual penetration with another person without having 
 first informed the other person that the person has a 
 communicable disease; 

    (2) transfer of blood, sperm, organs, or tissue, except as 
 deemed necessary for medical research or if disclosed on donor 
 screening forms; or 

    (3) sharing of nonsterile syringes or needles for the 
 purpose of injecting drugs. 

    Subd. 3.    Affirmative defense.  It is an affirmative 
 defense to prosecution, if it is proven by a preponderance of 
 the evidence, that: 

    (1) the person who knowingly harbors an infectious agent 
 for a communicable disease took practical means to prevent 
 transmission as advised by a physician or other health 
 professional; or 

    (2) the person who knowingly harbors an infectious agent 
 for a communicable disease is a health care provider who was 
 following professionally accepted infection control procedures. 

    Nothing in this section shall be construed to be a defense 
 to a criminal prosecution that does not allege a violation of 
 subdivision 2. 

    Subd. 4.    Health Department data.  Data protected by 
 section 13.3805, subdivision 1, and information collected as 
 part of a Health Department investigation under sections 
 144.4171 to 144.4186 may not be accessed or subpoenaed by law 
 enforcement authorities or prosecutors without the consent of 
 the subject of the data. 

    HIST: 1995 c 226 art 2 s 17; 1999 c 227 s 22 

Copyright 2005 by the Office of Revisor of Statutes, State of Minnesota.