CHAPTER 432
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 702, CHAPTER 7, TITLE 16, DELAWARE CODE, RELATING TO THE REPORT OF VENEREAL DISEASE CASES.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware:
Section 1. Section 702, Chapter 7, Title 16, Delaware Code, is amended by striking out said section and inserting in lieu thereof the following:
REPORT OF VENEREAL DISEASE CASES
Any physician or other person who makes a diagnosis or treats a case of venereal disease, and any superintendent or manager of a hospital, dispensary, or charitable or penal institution in which there is a case of venereal disease, and any person in charge of a laboratory finding presumptive evidence significant of venereal disease, shall report such findings to the State Board of Health by name or by number, on a weekly basis, associated with the name of the physician requesting the examination. Any physician or other person making the reports required by this section shall be free of any liability or any cause of action arising out of the making of such a report, if such physician or other person acts without malice and has made a reasonable effort to obtain the facts upon which the report is based. The reports required by this section shall be treated with strict confidence by the State Board of Health, and the patient who has a private physician shall be approached only with the consent of his physician, and the patient who does not have a private physician shall be approached only with the consent of the Attending Chief of the Section of the Clinic or Service concerned. Any investigative action by the State Board of Health will be through the private physician or if the patient does not have a private physician through the Attending Chief of the Section of the Clinic or Service concerned. The State Board of Health may prescribe the forms upon which any such reports are made, and adopt such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Section.
Approved May 18, 1970.