§ 20-7-109 - Authority to regulate public health -- Exceptions. - Arkansas Statutes

20-7-109. Authority to regulate public health -- Exceptions.

(a) (1) Power is conferred on the State Board of Health to make all necessary and reasonable rules and regulations of a general nature for:

(A) The protection of the public health and safety;

(B) The general amelioration of the sanitary and hygienic conditions within the state;

(C) The suppression and prevention of infectious, contagious, and communicable diseases;

(D) The proper enforcement of quarantine, isolation, and control of such diseases; and

(E) The proper control of chemical exposures that may result in adverse health effects to the public.

(2) All rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this subsection shall be reviewed by the House Interim Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor and the Senate Interim Committee on Public Health, Welfare, and Labor or appropriate subcommittees thereof.

(b) However, if a patient can be treated with reasonable safety to the public health, he or she shall not be removed from his or her home without his or her consent, or the consent of the parents or guardian in the case of a minor, and the rules and regulations, when made, shall be printed in pamphlet form, with such numbers of copies as may be necessary for the distribution of the information to health bodies, health and sanitary officers, and the public generally.

(c) The board shall not regulate the practice of medicine or healing nor interfere with the right of any citizen to employ the practitioner of his or her choice.