The Florida Senate

384.287  Screening for sexually transmissible disease.--

(1)  An officer as defined in s. 943.10(14); support personnel as defined in s. 943.10(11) who are employed by the Department of Law Enforcement, including, but not limited to, any crime scene analyst, forensic technologist, or crime lab analyst; firefighter as defined in s. 633.30; or ambulance driver, paramedic, or emergency medical technician as defined in s. 401.23, acting within the scope of employment, who comes into contact with a person in such a way that significant exposure, as defined in s. 381.004, has occurred may request that the person be screened for a sexually transmissible disease that can be transmitted through a significant exposure.

(2)  If the person will not voluntarily submit to screening, the officer, support personnel of the Department of Law Enforcement, firefighter, ambulance driver, paramedic, or emergency medical technician, or the employer of any of the employees described in subsection (1) acting on behalf of the employee, may seek a court order directing that the person who is the source of the significant exposure submit to screening. A sworn statement by a physician licensed under chapter 458 or chapter 459 that a significant exposure has occurred and that, in the physician's medical judgment, the screening is medically necessary to determine the course of treatment for the employee, constitutes probable cause for the issuance of the order by the court.

(3)  In order to use the provisions of this section, the employee subjected to the significant exposure must also be screened for the same sexually transmissible diseases.

(4)  All screenings must be conducted by the department or the department's authorized representative or by medical personnel at a facility designated by the court. The cost of screening shall be borne by the employer.

(5)  Results of the screening are exempt from the requirements of s. 384.29 solely for the purpose of releasing the results to the person who is the source of the significant exposure, to the person subjected to the significant exposure, to the physicians of the persons screened, and to the employer, if necessary for filing a worker's compensation claim or any other disability claim based on the significant exposure.

(6)  A person who receives the results of a test pursuant to this section, which results disclose human immunodeficiency virus infection and are otherwise confidential pursuant to law, shall maintain the confidentiality of the information received and the identity of the person tested as required by s. 381.004. Violation of this subsection constitutes a misdemeanor of the first degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.

History.--s. 1, ch. 94-205; s. 1, ch. 98-251.