A. 1. Any and all institutions in this state, whether penal or eleemosynary, public or private, and free or for pay, shall make, and preserve for a period of at least one (1) year, a record showing the name, age, sex, race, nationality and place of residence of any inmate infected with a communicable disease of such institution who may come to their knowledge.
2. The institution shall make available such record at all reasonable hours for inspection by the State Commissioner of Health or the local health officer.
3. Such institutions shall further furnish a physician and all proper medicines, instruments and apparatus for the proper treatment of such infected inmate.
B. Each institution and each Department of Corrections district office, and each county or municipal jail shall notify their correctional officers, probation and parole officers, and any jailor, or other employee or any employee of the Pardon and Parole Board, who has or will have direct contact with an inmate, when such inmate is infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), hepatitis or any other communicable disease.
C. 1. If an officer or employee of the State of Oklahoma, or any other person comes into contact with the bodily fluids of an inmate in a state correctional facility, the Director of the Department of Corrections or designee, under such rules as the Director shall promulgate to carry out the provisions of this section, shall cause such inmate to be tested for such disease, if no prior record of the existence of such disease exists. If an officer or employee of a county jail, or any other person, comes into contact with the bodily fluids of an inmate in a county jail, the sheriff or designee, under policies the sheriff shall promulgate to carry out the provisions of this section, shall cause the inmate to be tested for such disease, if no prior record of the existence of such disease exists.
2. The Director or designee shall promptly communicate in writing the results of the test to the person so exposed and refer the employee to the Department of Correction's Employee Assistance Program for appropriate referrals for counseling, health care, and support services for the person so exposed. If the exposure occurs within a county jail, the sheriff or designee shall promptly communicate in writing the results of the test to the person so exposed and refer the employee to the employee assistance program of the county for appropriate referrals for counseling, health care, and support services for the person so exposed.
3. As used in this section, the term "serious transmissible disease" means the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), MRSA, hepatitis or any other communicable disease.
D. In the event a person who has tested positive for a serious transmissible disease dies, each institution in this state, whether penal or eleemosynary, and whether public or private, shall notify the funeral director or embalmer who will be preparing the body for burial or other disposition by written notice as to the positive test upon first call, as defined in Section 396.2 of Title 59 of the Oklahoma Statutes.
Added by Laws 1963, c. 325, art. 5, § 523, operative July 1, 1963. Amended by Laws 1992, c. 45, § 1, emerg. eff. April 3, 1992; Laws 1994, c. 58, § 1, emerg. eff. April 15, 1994; Laws 1998, c. 148, § 1, emerg. eff. April 22, 1998; Laws 2008, c. 366, § 9, emerg. eff. June 3, 2008; Laws 2020, c. 9, § 3, eff. Nov. 1, 2020.