71-503.01 Reports required; confidentiality; limitations on use; immunity.
71-503.01. Reports required; confidentiality; limitations on use; immunity.Whenever any statute of the state, any ordinance or resolution of a municipal corporation or political subdivision enacted pursuant to statute, or any rule or regulation of an administrative agency adopted and promulgated pursuant to statute requires medical practitioners or other persons to report cases of communicable diseases, including sexually transmitted diseases and other reportable diseases, illnesses, or poisonings or to give notification of positive laboratory findings to the Department of Health and Human Services or any county or city board of health, local health department established pursuant to sections 71-1626 to 71-1636, city health department, local health agency, or state or local public official exercising the duties and responsibilities of any board of health or health department, such reports or notifications and the resulting investigations shall be confidential except as provided in this section, shall not be subject to subpoena, and shall be privileged and inadmissible in evidence in any legal proceeding of any kind or character and shall not be disclosed to any other department or agency of the State of Nebraska.In order to further the protection of public health, such reports and notifications may be disclosed by the Department of Health and Human Services, the official local health department, and the person making such reports or notifications to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the Public Health Service of the United States Department of Health and Human Services or its successor in such a manner as to ensure that the identity of any individual cannot be ascertained. To further protect the public health, the Department of Health and Human Services, the official local health department, and the person making the report or notification may disclose to the official state and local health departments of other states, territories, and the District of Columbia such reports and notifications, including sufficient identification and information so as to ensure that such investigations as deemed necessary are made.The appropriate board, health department, agency, or official may: (1) Publish analyses of such reports and information for scientific and public health purposes in such a manner as to ensure that the identity of any individual concerned cannot be ascertained; (2) discuss the report or notification with the attending physician; and (3) make such investigation as deemed necessary.Any medical practitioner, any official health department, the Department of Health and Human Services, or any other person making such reports or notifications shall be immune from suit for slander or libel or breach of privileged communication based on any statements contained in such reports and notifications. SourceLaws 1967, c. 441, § 2, p. 1381; Laws 1986, LB 763, § 3; Laws 1988, LB 1012, § 8; Laws 1991, LB 703, § 25; Laws 1994, LB 819, § 3; Laws 1996, LB 1044, § 494; Laws 1997, LB 197, § 4; Laws 2005, LB 301, § 13; Laws 2007, LB296, § 382.