Wash. Rev. Code § 70.24.017

Current through 2024

Section 70.24.017 - Definitions

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter:

(1) "Blood-borne pathogen" means a pathogenic microorganism that is present in human blood and can cause disease in humans, including hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus, as well as any other pathogen specified by the board in rule.

(2) "Board" means the state board of health.

(3) "Department" means the department of health, or any successor department with jurisdiction over public health matters.

(4) "Health care facility" means a hospital, nursing home, neuropsychiatric or mental health facility, home health agency, hospice, child care agency, group care facility, family foster home, clinic, blood bank, blood center, sperm bank, laboratory, or other social service or health care institution regulated or operated by the department of health.

(5) "Health care provider" means any person who is a member of a profession under RCW 18.130.040 or other person providing medical, nursing, psychological, or other health care services regulated by the department of health.

(6) "Health order" means a written directive issued by the state or local health officer that requires the recipient to take specific action to remove, reduce, control or prevent a risk to public health.

(7) "Human immunodeficiency virus" or "HIV" means all HIV and HIV-related viruses which damage the cellular branch of the human immune system and leave the person immunodeficient.

(8) "Legal guardian" means a person appointed by a court to assume legal authority for another who has been found incompetent or, in the case of a minor, a person who has legal custody of the child.

(9) "Local health officer" has the same meaning as in RCW 70.05.010.

(10) "Medical treatment" includes treatment for curable diseases and treatment that causes a person to be unable to transmit a disease to others, based upon generally accepted standards of medical and public health science, as specified by the board in rule.

(11) "Person" includes any natural person, partnership, association, joint venture, trust, public or private corporation, or health facility.

(12) "Sexually transmitted disease" means a bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic infection, determined by the board by rule to be sexually transmitted, to be a threat to the public health and welfare, and to be an infection for which a legitimate public interest will be served by providing for regulation and treatment. The board shall designate chancroid, gonorrhea, granuloma inguinale, lymphogranuloma venereum, genital herpes simplex, chlamydia, trachomitis, genital human papilloma virus infection, syphilis, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection as sexually transmitted diseases, and shall consider the recommendations and classifications of the centers for disease control and other nationally recognized medical authorities in designating other diseases as sexually transmitted.

(13) "State health officer" means the secretary of health or an officer appointed by the secretary.

(14) "Test for a sexually transmitted disease" means a test approved by the board by rule.

RCW 70.24.017

2020 c 76 § 2; 2001 c 319 § 4; 1991 c 3 § 322; 1988 c 206 § 101.

Reviser's note: The definitions in this section have been alphabetized pursuant to RCW 1.08.015(2)(k).