2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TWENTY-FOUR - Health and Sanitation (§§ 1 — 15010) › PART I - Hospitals, Institutions, And Health Programs (§§ 1 — 343k) › Chapter 18 - Protection and Security of Infants (§§ 322 — 328) › § 325 - Duties and responsibilities of hospital institutions

All public and private hospitals with specialized units such as newborn wards, neonatal intensive care units, obstetric wards and pediatric departments shall be bound to establish security and protection programs with the purpose of preventing kidnapping and stealing of newborn infants who receive medical services in said facilities. The infant security and protection programs must be designed, developed and implemented, including, but not limited to the following safety measures and procedures:
(1) The use of electronic bracelets or a similar electronic security system for each newborn infant while it remains in the hospital.
(2) Installation of video or closed circuit cameras with their corresponding taping system to be located in the newborn wards, obstetric wards, pediatric departments, elevators, specialized unit passages, entrances and exits, stairways, and emergency exits in order to maintain common surveillance, monitoring and supervision of said areas twenty-four (24) hours a day.
(3) Establish a rigorous control to prohibit the entrance of visitors to the newborn areas.
(4) Adopt strict procedures to identify employees, volunteer personnel and personnel authorized to attend to newborn infants. The identifications of these employees shall have a photograph of the owner, with the name, position or functions performed, and the specialized area or unit to which they are attached. The personnel shall also be duly uniformed according to the requirements and identification instituted by the hospital.
(5) Establish a registry of visitors to guarantee their identity when they go to the specialized units to which the entrance of visitors is allowed.
(6) Implement procedures to take the footprints of the newborn infants at the time they are born, the taking of color photographs and the registering of a physical description and a detailed profile in writing that will aid in the identification of the child with certainty and reliability, to be part of the medical record of the child.
(7) Promulgate and disclose the institutional policy and security and protection procedures adopted by the hospital in order to orient the parents, nursing personnel, medical faculty, administrative employees, maintenance and security personnel of the hospital, volunteer personnel and the community in general.
(8) Prepare a training and qualification plan addressed to the entire personnel of the hospital institution in order to give them orientation and information regarding security measures, techniques and methods that will contribute to the prevention of child stealing and kidnapping. These training programs shall be offered periodically according to the circumstances and needs of each hospital.
(9) Develop an emergency and mobilization plan to be in effect in the event any situation or incident arises that threatens the safety of the infants. This plan shall contemplate the immediate mobilization of security personnel and any other personnel of the hospital institution to render any help that is needed in enforcing the security measures that are implemented. Routine patrols by uniformed security guards shall also be established.
(10) Design and implement a form on which to describe any incident that occurs in the hospital that can lead any prudent and reasonable person to suspect that said incident could threaten the physical integrity and safety of the infants. This information must be immediately notified to the Puerto Rico Police, the hospital administration and the other hospital institutions of the community for them to take notice of said incidents and adopt precautionary and preventive measures.
History —June 18, 1999, No. 133, § 5.