Title: Unidentified Persons in Hospitals

Summary: Requires hospitals to maintain directory of unidentified persons containing specified information; requires hospitals to make directory available to public upon request; requires hospitals, before including unidentified person in directory, to inform unidentified person of directory & provide him or her with opportunity to restrict or prohibit inclusion in directory or disclosure of his or her personal identifying information.

Full Text:
An act relating to unidentified persons in hospitals; creating s. 395.1013, F.S.; requiring hospitals to maintain a directory of unidentified persons containing specified information; requiring hospitals to make the directory available to the public upon request; requiring hospitals, before including an unidentified person in the directory, to inform the unidentified person of the directory and provide him or her with an opportunity to restrict or prohibit inclusion in the directory or disclosure of his or her personal identifying information; providing an exception for a specified timeframe; providing an effective date. Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: Section 1. Section 395.1013, Florida Statutes, is created to read: 395.1013 Unidentified persons.-(1) Each hospital shall maintain a directory of all unidentified persons being treated at the hospital which must be made availab le to the public upon request. The directory must include all of the following details for each unidentified person: HB 2023 (a) The type of injury suffered by the unidentified person. (b) A description of the unidentified person's condition, using general ter ms that do not disclose specific medical information about the person. (c) A description of distinguishing characteristics of the unidentified person, including height, weight, gender, race, hair and eye color, and any facial hair, scars, and tattoos. (2) Before entering any information into the directory, a hospital shall first inform the unidentified person that his or her personal identifying information will be included in the directory and may be disclosed to the public upon request. The hospital shall provide the unidentified person with the opportunity to restrict or prohibit the inclusion in the directory of any of the information specified in subsection (1) or the disclosure of such information. If an unidentified person cannot reasonably be inf ormed of inclusion in the directory due to the person's incapacitation or emergency treatment protocols, the hospital must include the unidentified person in the directory until the unidentified person is no longer incapacitated or the emergency has subsid ed, at which point the hospital must inform the unidentified person of his or her inclusion in the directory and the option to restrict or prohibit continued inclusion or the disclosure of his or her personal identifying information. HB 2023 Section 2. This ac tshall take effect July 1, 2023.