ENROLLED
       2015 Legislature                    CS for SB 954, 1st Engrossed
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                                              2015954er
    1  
    2         An act relating to involuntary examinations of minors;
    3         amending s. 381.0056, F.S.; revising the definition of
    4         the term “emergency health needs”; requiring school
    5         health services plans to include notification
    6         requirements when a student is removed from school,
    7         school transportation, or a school-sponsored activity
    8         for involuntary examination; amending s. 394.4599,
    9         F.S.; including health care surrogates and proxies as
   10         individuals who may act on behalf of an individual
   11         involuntarily admitted to a facility; requiring a
   12         receiving facility to immediately notify the parent,
   13         guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate of the
   14         whereabouts of a minor who is being held for
   15         involuntary examination; providing circumstances when
   16         notification may be delayed; requiring the receiving
   17         facility to make continuous notification attempts;
   18         authorizing the receiving facility to seek assistance
   19         from law enforcement under certain circumstances;
   20         requiring the receiving facility to document
   21         notification attempts in the minor’s clinical record;
   22         amending ss. 1002.20 and 1002.33, F.S.; requiring
   23         public school or charter school principals or their
   24         designees to provide notice of the whereabouts of a
   25         student removed from school, school transportation, or
   26         a school-sponsored activity for involuntary
   27         examination; providing conditions for delay in
   28         notification; requiring district school boards and
   29         charter school governing boards to develop
   30         notification policies and procedures; providing an
   31         effective date.
   32          
   33  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         Section 1. Subsection (2) and paragraph (a) of subsection
   36  (4) of section 381.0056, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
   37         381.0056 School health services program.—
   38         (2) As used in this section, the term:
   39         (a) “Emergency health needs” means onsite evaluation,
   40  management, and aid for illness or injury pending the student’s
   41  return to the classroom or release to a parent, guardian,
   42  designated friend, law enforcement officer, or designated health
   43  care provider.
   44         (b) “Entity” or “health care entity” means a unit of local
   45  government or a political subdivision of the state; a hospital
   46  licensed under chapter 395; a health maintenance organization
   47  certified under chapter 641; a health insurer authorized under
   48  the Florida Insurance Code; a community health center; a migrant
   49  health center; a federally qualified health center; an
   50  organization that meets the requirements for nonprofit status
   51  under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code; a private
   52  industry or business; or a philanthropic foundation that agrees
   53  to participate in a public-private partnership with a county
   54  health department, local school district, or school in the
   55  delivery of school health services, and agrees to the terms and
   56  conditions for the delivery of such services as required by this
   57  section and as documented in the local school health services
   58  plan.
   59         (c) “Invasive screening” means any screening procedure in
   60  which the skin or any body orifice is penetrated.
   61         (d) “Physical examination” means a thorough evaluation of
   62  the health status of an individual.
   63         (e) “School health services plan” means the document that
   64  describes the services to be provided, the responsibility for
   65  provision of the services, the anticipated expenditures to
   66  provide the services, and evidence of cooperative planning by
   67  local school districts and county health departments.
   68         (f) “Screening” means presumptive identification of unknown
   69  or unrecognized diseases or defects by the application of tests
   70  that can be given with ease and rapidity to apparently healthy
   71  persons.
   72         (4)(a) Each county health department shall develop, jointly
   73  with the district school board and the local school health
   74  advisory committee, a school health services plan.; and The plan
   75  must include, at a minimum, provisions for all of the following:
   76         1. Health appraisal;
   77         2. Records review;
   78         3. Nurse assessment;
   79         4. Nutrition assessment;
   80         5. A preventive dental program;
   81         6. Vision screening;
   82         7. Hearing screening;
   83         8. Scoliosis screening;
   84         9. Growth and development screening;
   85         10. Health counseling;
   86         11. Referral and followup of suspected or confirmed health
   87  problems by the local county health department;
   88         12. Meeting emergency health needs in each school;
   89         13. County health department personnel to assist school
   90  personnel in health education curriculum development;
   91         14. Referral of students to appropriate health treatment,
   92  in cooperation with the private health community whenever
   93  possible;
   94         15. Consultation with a student’s parent or guardian
   95  regarding the need for health attention by the family physician,
   96  dentist, or other specialist when definitive diagnosis or
   97  treatment is indicated;
   98         16. Maintenance of records on incidents of health problems,
   99  corrective measures taken, and such other information as may be
  100  needed to plan and evaluate health programs; except, however,
  101  that provisions in the plan for maintenance of health records of
  102  individual students must be in accordance with s. 1002.22;
  103         17. Health information which will be provided by the school
  104  health nurses, when necessary, regarding the placement of
  105  students in exceptional student programs and the reevaluation at
  106  periodic intervals of students placed in such programs; and
  107         18. Notification to the local nonpublic schools of the
  108  school health services program and the opportunity for
  109  representatives of the local nonpublic schools to participate in
  110  the development of the cooperative health services plan; and.
  111         19. Immediate notification to a student’s parent, guardian,
  112  or caregiver if the student is removed from school, school
  113  transportation, or a school-sponsored activity and taken to a
  114  receiving facility for an involuntary examination pursuant to s.
  115  394.463, including the requirements established under ss.
  116  1002.20(3) and 1002.33(9), as applicable.
  117         Section 2. Section 394.4599, Florida Statutes, is amended
  118  to read:
  119         394.4599 Notice.—
  120         (1) VOLUNTARY ADMISSION PATIENTS.—Notice of an individual’s
  121  a voluntary patient’s admission shall only be given only at the
  122  request of the individual patient, except that, in an emergency,
  123  notice shall be given as determined by the facility.
  124         (2) INVOLUNTARY ADMISSION PATIENTS.—
  125         (a) Whenever notice is required to be given under this
  126  part, such notice shall be given to the individual patient and
  127  the individual’s patient’s guardian, guardian advocate, health
  128  care surrogate or proxy, attorney, and representative.
  129         1. When notice is required to be given to an individual a
  130  patient, it shall be given both orally and in writing, in the
  131  language and terminology that the individual patient can
  132  understand, and, if needed, the facility shall provide an
  133  interpreter for the individual patient.
  134         2. Notice to an individual’s a patient’s guardian, guardian
  135  advocate, health care surrogate or proxy, attorney, and
  136  representative shall be given by United States mail and by
  137  registered or certified mail with the date, time, and method of
  138  notice delivery documented in receipts attached to the patient’s
  139  clinical record. Hand delivery by a facility employee may be
  140  used as an alternative, with the date and time of delivery
  141  documented in the clinical record. If notice is given by a state
  142  attorney or an attorney for the department, a certificate of
  143  service is shall be sufficient to document service.
  144         (b) A receiving facility shall give prompt notice of the
  145  whereabouts of an individual a patient who is being
  146  involuntarily held for examination to the individual’s guardian,
  147  guardian advocate, health care surrogate or proxy, attorney or
  148  representative, by telephone or in person within 24 hours after
  149  the individual’s patient’s arrival at the facility, unless the
  150  patient requests that no notification be made. Contact attempts
  151  shall be documented in the individual’s patient’s clinical
  152  record and shall begin as soon as reasonably possible after the
  153  individual’s patient’s arrival. Notice that a patient is being
  154  admitted as an involuntary patient shall be given to the Florida
  155  local advocacy council no later than the next working day after
  156  the patient is admitted.
  157         (c)1. A receiving facility shall give notice of the
  158  whereabouts of a minor who is being involuntarily held for
  159  examination pursuant to s. 394.463 to the minor’s parent,
  160  guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate, in person or by
  161  telephone or other form of electronic communication, immediately
  162  after the minor’s arrival at the facility. The facility may
  163  delay notification for no more than 24 hours after the minor’s
  164  arrival if the facility has submitted a report to the central
  165  abuse hotline, pursuant to s. 39.201, based upon knowledge or
  166  suspicion of abuse, abandonment, or neglect and if the facility
  167  deems a delay in notification to be in the minor’s best
  168  interest.
  169         2. The receiving facility shall attempt to notify the
  170  minor’s parent, guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate until
  171  the receiving facility receives confirmation from the parent,
  172  guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate, verbally, by
  173  telephone or other form of electronic communication, or by
  174  recorded message, that notification has been received. Attempts
  175  to notify the parent, guardian, caregiver, or guardian advocate
  176  must be repeated at least once every hour during the first 12
  177  hours after the minor’s arrival and once every 24 hours
  178  thereafter and must continue until such confirmation is
  179  received, unless the minor is released at the end of the 72-hour
  180  examination period, or until a petition for involuntary
  181  placement is filed with the court pursuant to s. 394.463(2)(i).
  182  The receiving facility may seek assistance from a law
  183  enforcement agency to notify the minor’s parent, guardian,
  184  caregiver, or guardian advocate if the facility has not received
  185  within the first 24 hours after the minor’s arrival a
  186  confirmation by the parent, guardian, caregiver, or guardian
  187  advocate that notification has been received. The receiving
  188  facility must document notification attempts in the minor’s
  189  clinical record.
  190         (d)(c) The written notice of the filing of the petition for
  191  involuntary placement of an individual being held must contain
  192  the following:
  193         1. Notice that the petition has been filed with the circuit
  194  court in the county in which the individual patient is
  195  hospitalized and the address of such court.
  196         2. Notice that the office of the public defender has been
  197  appointed to represent the individual patient in the proceeding,
  198  if the individual patient is not otherwise represented by
  199  counsel.
  200         3. The date, time, and place of the hearing and the name of
  201  each examining expert and every other person expected to testify
  202  in support of continued detention.
  203         4. Notice that the individual patient, the individual’s
  204  patient’s guardian, guardian advocate, health care surrogate or
  205  proxy, or representative, or the administrator may apply for a
  206  change of venue for the convenience of the parties or witnesses
  207  or because of the condition of the individual patient.
  208         5. Notice that the individual patient is entitled to an
  209  independent expert examination and, if the individual patient
  210  cannot afford such an examination, that the court will provide
  211  for one.
  212         (e)(d) A treatment facility shall provide notice of an
  213  individual’s a patient’s involuntary admission on the next
  214  regular working day after the individual’s patient’s arrival at
  215  the facility.
  216         (f)(e) When an individual a patient is to be transferred
  217  from one facility to another, notice shall be given by the
  218  facility where the individual patient is located before prior to
  219  the transfer.
  220         Section 3. Paragraph (l) is added to subsection (3) of
  221  section 1002.20, Florida Statutes, to read:
  222         1002.20 K-12 student and parent rights.—Parents of public
  223  school students must receive accurate and timely information
  224  regarding their child’s academic progress and must be informed
  225  of ways they can help their child to succeed in school. K-12
  226  students and their parents are afforded numerous statutory
  227  rights including, but not limited to, the following:
  228         (3) HEALTH ISSUES.—
  229         (l) Notification of involuntary examinations.—The public
  230  school principal or the principal’s designee shall immediately
  231  notify the parent of a student who is removed from school,
  232  school transportation, or a school-sponsored activity and taken
  233  to a receiving facility for an involuntary examination pursuant
  234  to s. 394.463. The principal or the principal’s designee may
  235  delay notification for no more than 24 hours after the student
  236  is removed if the principal or designee deems the delay to be in
  237  the student’s best interest and if a report has been submitted
  238  to the central abuse hotline, pursuant to s. 39.201, based upon
  239  knowledge or suspicion of abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Each
  240  district school board shall develop a policy and procedures for
  241  notification under this paragraph.
  242         Section 4. Paragraph (q) is added to subsection (9) of
  243  section 1002.33, Florida Statutes, to read:
  244         1002.33 Charter schools.—
  245         (9) CHARTER SCHOOL REQUIREMENTS.—
  246         (q) The charter school principal or the principal’s
  247  designee shall immediately notify the parent of a student who is
  248  removed from school, school transportation, or a school
  249  sponsored activity and taken to a receiving facility for an
  250  involuntary examination pursuant to s. 394.463. The principal or
  251  the principal’s designee may delay notification for no more than
  252  24 hours after the student is removed if the principal or
  253  designee deems the delay to be in the student’s best interest
  254  and if a report has been submitted to the central abuse hotline,
  255  pursuant to s. 39.201, based upon knowledge or suspicion of
  256  abuse, abandonment, or neglect. Each charter school governing
  257  board shall develop a policy and procedures for notification
  258  under this paragraph.
  259         Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2015.