§ 23-6-14 Exceptions. – A physician or other health care provider may secure a test sample for the presence of HIV without consent under the following conditions:
(1) When the person to be tested is under one year of age;
(2) When the person to be tested is between one and thirteen (13) years of age and appears to be symptomatic for HIV;
(3) When the person to be tested is a minor under the care and authority of the department of children, youth, and families, and the director of that department certifies that an HIV test is necessary to secure health or human services for that person;
(4) When a person (the complainant) can document significant exposure to blood or other bodily fluids of another person (the individual to be tested), during the performance of the complainant's occupation, providing:
(i) The complainant completes an incident report within forty-eight (48) hours of the exposure, identifying the parties to the exposure, witnesses, time, place, and nature of the event;
(ii) The complainant submits to a baseline HIV test and is negative on that test for the presence of HIV, within seventy-two (72) hours of the exposure;
(iii) There has been a significant percutaneous or mucus membrane exposure, i.e., needlestick, bite, splash over open wound, broken skin, or mucus membrane, by blood or bodily fluids of the person to be tested of a type and in sufficient concentration to permit transmission of HIV if present in those fluids; and
(iv) If a sample of the patient's blood is not otherwise available and the patient refuses to grant informed consent, then the complainant may petition the superior court for a court order mandating that the test be performed.
(5) In a licensed health care facility or in the private office of a physician in the event that an occupational health representative or physician, registered nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or nurse-midwife not directly involved in the exposure, determines that a health care provider, other than one in a supervisory position to the person making the determination had a significant exposure to the blood and/or body fluids of a patient and the patient or the patient's guardian refuses to grant consent for an HIV test to determine whether the patient has HIV, then, if a sample of the patient's blood is available, that blood shall be tested for HIV.
(ii) If a sample of the patient's blood is not otherwise available and the patient refuses to grant informed consent, then the health care worker may petition the superior court for a court order mandating that the test be performed.
(iii) Before a patient or a sample of the patient's blood is required to undergo an HIV test, the health care provider must submit to a baseline HIV test within seventy-two (72) hours of the exposure.
(iv) No person who determines that a health care worker has sustained a significant exposure and authorizes the HIV testing of a patient, nor any person or health care facility who acts in good faith and recommends the test be performed, shall have any liability as a result of their actions carried out under this chapter, unless those persons are proven to have acted in bad faith.
(6) In an emergency, where due to a grave medical or psychiatric condition, it is impossible to obtain consent from the patient or the patient's parent, guardian, or agent.
(7) As permitted under §§ 23-18.6.1-14(c) and (d) (organ transplant), 23-1-38 (sperm donation), and 23-8-1.1 (person under eighteen (18) years may give consent for testing for communicable diseases).
(8) Mandatory testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) conducted pursuant to §§ 42-56-37 (testing at ACI), 11-34-10 (prostitution), and 21-28-4.20 (IDU and needles).