Download Infection/infectious disease

Law and infectious diseases
Marta Rorat PhD, MD
The Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and fighting infections and
infectious diseases in humans
THE ACT DEFINES
Rules and procedures to prevent and fight infections and infectious
diseases in humans including the rules and procedures of
identifying and monitoring the epidemiological situation as well as
taking anti-epidemic actions and immunisations
Rules and tasks of public administration in prevention and fighting
infections and infectious diseases in humans
Rights and obligations of entities providing medical services
and people residing in the territory of Poland
The Act of 5 December 2008 on preventing and fighting infections and
infectious diseases in humans
Chapter 1 General provisions (purpose of the Act, the legal definitions,
to whom and to what it applies, programmes, obligations)
Chapter 2 Sanitary-epidemiological analysis, investigation (who, when
and where is obliged to perform tests, verification, temporary removal
from work)
Chapter 3 Infections associated with providing healthcare services
Chapter 4 Vaccinations
Chapter 5 Other actions to prevent infections and infectious diseases
Chapter 6 Proceeding in case of suspicion or recognition of infection or
infectious disease, and in case of death due to infection
Chapter 7 Public administration in prevention and control of infections
and infectious diseases
Chapter 8 Rules of proceeding in case of epidemiology threat and
epidemic outbreak
Chapter 9 Legal penalties
Appendix The list of infections and infectious diseases
Vaccination
• An obligation to undergo „mandatory vaccinations”
• People residing on the territory of Poland for less
than 3 months are exempt from the obligation to be
vaccinated
• Before a vaccination physical examination has to be
performed
• The doctor issues a certificate confirming no
contraindications to vaccination, including the date
and exact time
• The certificate is valid for 24 hours
• Long-term postponement of obligatory vaccination
requires specialist consultation
Vaccination
• Doctors, nurses, midwives, school hygienist qualifying
patients to be vaccinated
• Running medical documentation is mandatory
• Obligatory vaccination has to be reported to Sanitary
Inspector
• Vaccine adverse reaction (or suspicion) has to be
reported within 24 hours
Vaccination
Children under 6 years of age have to be assisted by
their parents or a legal guardian
Childer over 6 might be examined without presence
of parents or a legal guardian, after obtaining their
written consent and being given an information about
their health status
• A doctor is obliged to inform the person about
mandatory as well as recommended vaccines
• Health care providers have to send the reports about
performed vaccinations to Sanitary Inspector
• Sanitary Inspector calls for vaccination and indicates
consequences of failure to comply with the obligation
• In case of further avoiding the obligation a province
governor (wojewoda) is being informed and starts
administrative proceeding
• Possible punishment: a fine (recovery procedure)
The Misdemeanour Code of 20 May 1971
Art. 115. § 1. Who does not succumb to mandatory
preventive vaccination against tuberculosis or other
infectious diseases or mandatory health check-ups for
the detection and treatment of tuberculosis, venereal
disease or any other infectious disease, following the
use of administrative enforcement means, can be fined
up to 1 500 PLN or can be reprimanded.
§ 2. The same penalty applies to any person having
custody of a minor, who does not provide the minor
with a vaccination or examination specified in § 1.
Infection/infectious disease
If a patient is suspected of an infection or infectious
disease he must be informed by doctor, nurse or midwife
about ways of transmission and protection options.
In case of STD (sexual transmited disease) also about
necessity of doctor’s visit of his sexual partners. It must be
assigned by a patient in medical records.
Hospital acquired infection
A doctor, who suspects or recognises an infection, infectious
disease or death due to infection/ infectious disease, is
obliged immediately (in less than 24 hours) to report such
event to Sanitary Inspector.
In case of patients admitted to the hospital, the obligation is
within the hospital manager duties.
The notification should contain:
• patient’s personal data (name, surname, age, gender,
PESEL number, address)
• diagnosis of an infection or infectious disease
• clinical symptoms
• description of the infection, illness or death due to
infection or infectious disease
• risk factors
• characteristics of the biological infection agent
• other information, required for epidemiologic
supervision
There are different forms for tuberculosis, STDs, HIV/ AIDS,
death due to infection or infectious disease
Healthcare centre managers and individuals providing healthcare
services are obliged to engage actively in actions aimed at preventing
the spread of infections and infectious diseases
The actions mentioned above should include in particular:
1) assessment of the risk of hospital acquired infections
2) monitoring the risk factors and hospital acquired infections
3) establishing, implementation and supervision of procedures
preventing the occurrence of hospital acquired infections
4) introduction of individual and group protection, aimed at
preventing the transfer of contagious biological agents to other
people
5) conducting laboratory tests and analysis of local epidemiologic
situation
6) internal control
Hospital acquired infections
1) obligation to run the medical record documentation
2) obligation to implement system of prevention and fighting
hospital acquired infection:
• establishing and supervising activity of Group and
Committee of Hospital Acquired Infections;
• risk assessment and monitoring hospital acquired
infections and alarm factors
• procedures to ensure prevention of hospital acquired
infections, patients’ isolation, 24/7 test performing
(including microbiological), antibiotic therapy control
• monitoring and registering hospital acquired infections
and alarm factors
• infections and outbreaks are reported to Sanitary
Inspector
Fines
1) for vaccinating having no formal qualification
2) for lack or improper running of medical records on vaccination
3) for not informing the patient/legal guardian about mandatory or
recommended vaccines
4) for not informing a patient/legal guardian about safety measures
which prevent infection transmiting from one person to another or
obligation to perform sanitary-epidemiological tests
5) for not informing an infected person of the obligation to visit a
doctor by his/her sexual partners
6) lack of AEFI reporting
7) for not reporting suspicion or recognition of an infection,
infectious disaese, death because of infection/infectious disease
8) for not implementing and not applying procedures protecting
from infections and infectious diseases
9) for not following hygienic-sanitary procedures
art. 161 cc
§ 1. Whoever, knowing that he or she is infected by the HIV
virus, directly exposes another person to infection from that
disease shall be subject to the penalty of deprivation of
liberty for up to 3 years.
§ 2. Whoever, knowing that he or she is afflicted with a
venereal or contagious disease, a serious incurable
disease or a disease which actually threatens life, directly
exposes another person to infection from that disease shall
be subject to a fine, the penalty of restriction of liberty or the
penalty of deprivation of liberty for up to one year.
§ 3. The prosecution of the offence specified in § 1 or 2 shall
occur on a motion of the injured person.