(a) As used in this section:

(1) “Adult staff member” means an individual who is 18 years or older and is acting under the direction of the licensee, the licensee’s employer, or is otherwise licensed under this chapter.

(2) “Evaluation or treatment” includes dressing, bathing, or toileting that exposes a minor patient’s breast, genitalia, or rectum.

(3) “Minor” means an individual who is 15 years or younger.

(4) “Services” includes inpatient, outpatient, home, or school treatment.

Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 24 Sec. 2021

  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Licensee: means an individual licensed under this chapter to practice occupational therapy services. See Delaware Code Title 24 Sec. 2002
  • Person: means a corporation, company, association,or partnership, or an individual. See Delaware Code Title 24 Sec. 2002

(b) A minor patient’s parent, guardian, or other caretaker, or an adult staff member, must be present when a licensee provides services to a minor patient who is disrobed or partially disrobed during evaluation or treatment.

(c) If an adult staff member observes the evaluation or treatment, the adult staff member must be of the same gender as the patient when practicable.

(d) The minor patient may decline the presence of a third person only with consent of individual providing consent to the minor patient’s treatment and only after the initial evaluation.

(e) When a minor patient’s evaluation or treatment involves the female breasts, or female or male genitalia or rectum, a licensee shall provide the individual providing consent to the minor patient’s treatment with notice of the rights under this section. The notice must be provided in written form or conspicuously posted in a manner in which a minor patient and the individual providing consent to the minor patient’s treatment are made aware of the notice. In circumstances in which the posting or the provision of the written notice may not convey the right to have a third person present, the licensee shall use another means to ensure that the minor patient and the individual providing consent to the minor patient’s treatment understand the rights under this section.

(f) [Repealed.]

(g) A licensee that provides treatment to a minor patient under this section shall, contemporaneously with the treatment, note in the minor patient’s record the name of each person present when the treatment is provided.

79 Del. Laws, c. 169, § ?6; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § ?1; 81 Del. Laws, c. 424, § 21;