135.22 - CENTRAL REGISTRY FOR BRAIN OR SPINAL CORD INJURIES.

        135.22  CENTRAL REGISTRY FOR BRAIN OR SPINAL CORD
      INJURIES.
         1.  As used in this section:
         a.  "Brain injury" means the occurrence of injury to the head
      not primarily related to a degenerative disease or aging process that
      is documented in a medical record with one or more of the following
      conditions attributed to the head injury:
         (1)  An observed or self-reported decreased level of
      consciousness.
         (2)  Amnesia.
         (3)  A skull fracture.
         (4)  An objective neurological or neuropsychological abnormality.

         (5)  A diagnosed intracranial lesion.
         b.  "Spinal cord injury" means the occurrence of an acute
      traumatic lesion of neural elements in the spinal cord including the
      spinal cord and cauda equina, resulting in temporary or permanent
      sensory deficit, motor deficit, or bladder or bowel dysfunction.
         2.  The director shall establish and maintain a central registry
      of persons with brain or spinal cord injuries in order to facilitate
      prevention strategies and the provision of appropriate rehabilitative
      services to the persons by the department and other state agencies.
      Hospitals shall report patients who are admitted with a brain or
      spinal cord injury and their diagnoses to the director no later than
      forty-five days after the close of a quarter in which the patient was
      discharged.  The report shall contain the name, age, and residence of
      the person, the date, type, and cause of the brain or spinal cord
      injury, and additional information as the director requires, except
      that where available, hospitals shall report the Glasgow coma scale.
      The director shall consult with health care providers concerning the
      availability of additional relevant information.  The department
      shall maintain the confidentiality of all information which would
      identify any person named in a report.  However, the identifying
      information may be released for bona fide research purposes if the
      confidentiality of the identifying information is maintained by the
      researchers, or the identifying information may be released by the
      person with the brain or spinal cord injury or by the person's
      guardian or, if the person is a minor, by the person's parent or
      guardian.  
         Section History: Recent Form
         89 Acts, ch 320, § 10; 92 Acts, ch 1237, § 6; 94 Acts, ch 1068,
      §3; 99 Acts, ch 141, §3
         Referred to in § 135.22A, 335.25, 414.22