When the county board of health or the Department of Public Health has evidence that any person has active tuberculosis and is violating the rules and regulations promulgated by the department or the orders issued by the county board of health and thereby presents a substantial risk of exposing other persons to an imminent danger of infection, after having been directed by the county board of health or the department to comply with such rules, regulations, or orders, the county board of health or the department shall institute proceedings by petition for commitment, returnable to the superior court of the county wherein such person resides or, if such person is a nonresident or has no fixed place of abode, in the county wherein such person may be found. The petition executed under oath shall state the specific evidence supporting the allegations, that the evidence has existed within the preceding 30 days, that the person named therein has active tuberculosis and is violating the rules and regulations of the department or the orders of the county board of health and presents a substantial risk of exposing other persons to an imminent danger of infection, after having been directed by the county board of health or department to comply with such rules, regulations, or orders, and that the public health requires commitment of the person named therein. The petition must be accompanied by a certificate of a physician stating that the physician knows or suspects that the person named therein may have active tuberculosis, the evidence which forms the basis of this opinion, and whether a full evaluation of the person is necessary.
(Ga. L. 1953, Nov.-Dec. Sess., p. 348, § 4; Code 1933, § 88-704, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1; Ga. L. 1995, p. 1231, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. 1513, § 1/SB 56; Ga. L. 2009, p. 453, § 1-4/HB 228; Ga. L. 2011, p. 705, § 6-3/HB 214.)
Law reviews.- For article on the 2011 amendment of this Code section, see 28 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 147 (2011).
OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Involuntary commitment of one with infectious tuberculosis who becomes intoxicated.
- If a person with infectious tuberculosis becomes intoxicated it is possible that the person's behavior might subject the person to involuntary commitment, but only if the person is conducting oneself so as to expose other persons. 1972 Op. Att'y Gen. No. U72-106.
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 39 Am. Jur. 2d, Health, §§ 53 et seq., 64 et seq.
C.J.S.- 39A C.J.S., Health and Environment, §§ 28 et seq., 43.