2013 Rhode Island General Laws
Title 40 - Human services
Chapter 40-11 - Abused and Neglected Children
Section 40-11-3 - Duty to report – Deprivation of nutrition or medical treatment.

§ 40-11-3 Duty to report – Deprivation of nutrition or medical treatment. – (a) Any person who has reasonable cause to know or suspect that any child has been abused or neglected as defined in section 40-11-2 or has been a victim of sexual abuse by another child shall, within twenty-four (24) hours, transfer that information to the department of children, youth and families or its agent who shall cause the report to be investigated immediately. As a result of those reports and referrals, protective social services shall be made available to those children in an effort to safeguard and enhance the welfare of those children and to provide a means to prevent further abuse or neglect. The department shall establish and implement a single, statewide, toll-free telephone to operate twenty-four (24) hours per day, seven (7) days per week for the receipt of reports concerning child abuse and neglect, which reports shall be electronically recorded and placed in the central registry established by section 42-72-7. The electronically recorded records, properly indexed by date and other essential identifying data, shall be maintained for a minimum of three (3) years; provided, however, any person who has been reported for child abuse and/or neglect and who has been determined not to have neglected and/or abused a child, shall have his or her record expunged as to that incident three (3) years after that determination. The department shall continuously maintain a management information database which includes all of the information required to implement this section, including the number of cases reported by hospitals, health care centers, emergency rooms and other appropriate health care facilities.

(b) The reporting shall include immediate notification of the department of any instance where parents of an infant have requested deprivation of nutrition that is necessary to sustain life and/or who have requested deprivation of medical or surgical intervention that is necessary to remedy or ameliorate a life threatening medical condition, if the nutrition or medical or surgical intervention is generally provided to similar nutritional, medical, or surgical conditioned infants, whether disabled or not.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be interpreted to prevent a child's parents and physician from discontinuing the use of life-support systems or nonpalliative treatment for a child who is terminally ill where, in the opinion of the child's physician exercising competent medical judgment, the child has no reasonable chance of recovery from the terminal illness despite every appropriate medical treatment to correct the condition.

History of Section.
(P.L. 1976, ch. 91, § 2; P.L. 1979, ch. 248, § 9; P.L. 1983, ch. 250, § 1; P.L. 1984, ch. 247, § 1; P.L. 1985, ch. 371, § 1; P.L. 1988, ch. 655, § 1; P.L. 1990, ch. 280, § 1; P.L. 1999, ch. 83, § 101; P.L. 1999, ch. 130, § 101; P.L. 2013, ch. 286, § 1.)