[PUBLIC-No. 81.]

An Act For the prevention of scarlet fever, diphtheria, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, and typhoid fever in the District of Columbia.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person in charge of any patient in the District of Columbia who is suffering from diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, or typhoid fever, immediately after becoming aware of the existence of such disease, shall send to the health officer of said District a certificate, written in ink, signed by such person, stating the name of the disease, the name, age, sex, and color of the person suffering therefrom, and the school which he or she has attended, if any, and setting forth by street and number, or by other sufficient designation, the location of the house, room, or other place in which said patient can be found. When said patient recovers, or dies, said person in charge, as soon as possible thereafter, shall send to the health officer of said District a certificate, written in ink, certifying to that fact. But no person shall certify knowingly or negligently that any patient has recovered from any disease aforesaid until such patient is in such condition as to be free from danger of communicating the disease from which he is suffering to other persons. SEC. 2. The term "person in charge of any patient," as used in this Act, shall be held to mean, first, each physician in attendance on, called in to visit, or examining a patient, unless called in to visit or examining the patient solely as a consultant to a physician already in attendance; second, in the absence or disability of any physician aforesaid, or in event of default on the part of such physician, the head of the family to which the patient belongs; third, in the absence or disability of such person, or in event of default on the part of the physician aforesaid, the nearest relative or relatives of such patient present on the premises and in attendance on such patient; fourth, in the absence or disability of all persons aforesaid, or in event of default on the part of the physician aforesaid, every person in attendance on such patient. And in the cases of physicians and of persous acting in the capacity of physicians, attending, visiting, or examining any patient suffering from any disease aforesaid shall be prima facie evidence that any person so doing was aware of the nature of such disease.

SEC. 3. That any person who violates or aids or assists in violating any of the provisions of this Act shall be punished, upon conviction thereof, by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days. Prosecutions under this Act shall be in the police court of the District of Columbia on information signed by the corporation counsel of said District or by one of his assistants.

SEC. 4. That the Commissioners of the District of Columbia be, and they are hereby, authorized to make such regulations as they deem necessary for the prevention of the spread of diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, epidemic cerebro-spinal meningitis, and typhoid fever, and to affix to such regulations such

penalties as in the judgment of said Commissioners are necessary to secure compliance therewith.

SEC. 5. That this Act shall take effect from and after sixty days after its passage, and from and after the expiration of said period an Act entitled "An Act to prevent the spread of scarlet fever and diphtheria in the District of Columbia," approved December twentieth, eighteen hundred and ninety, and an Act entitled "An Act to require cases of typhoid fever occurring in the District of Columbia, to be reported to the health department of said District," approved February fourth, nineteen hundred and two, and all other Acts and parts of Acts contrary to the provisions of this Act, or inconsistent therewith, be, and the same are hereby, repealed; and any money available at the time of said repeal for the execution and enforcement of the Acts named be, and hereby is, made available for the execution and enforcement of the provisions of this Act and of regulations made by authority thereof; but for any act done or omitted in violation of the provisions of either of the Acts named above prior to the repeal of said Acts prosecutions may be instituted, and if already instituted may be continued, in accordance with the provisions of said Acts, notwithstanding that said Act has been repealed for all purposes other than the institution and the continuance of such prosecutions.

Approved, February 9, 1907.

[PUBLIC-No. 149.]

An Act To provide for the better registration of births in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any physician or midwife who attends at the birth of any child within the District of Columbia, and any person whosoever who, in the absence of a physician or midwife, performs any of the offices usually rendered by such shall execute or cause to be executed and shall file with the health officer of said District not later than the Saturday first ensuing after the expiration of three secular days immediately following the date of such birth a proper report thereof, written in ink, on a blank furnished by said health officer, embodying all such data as may be necessary for the purposes of the Bureau of the Census of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and such other data, if any, as the Commissioners of said District deem needful. So far as relates to any data aforesaid not based upon the personal observation of the physician, midwife, or other person by whom report is made, every such report shall show the name and address of the informant and the relationship of said informant to the child born: Provided, however, That if the child born be illegitimate it shall in no case be necessary for any physician, midwife, or other person to indicate on any report required by this Act any fact or facts whereby the identity of the father or of the mother or of the child born will be disclosed: And provided further, That no report need be made of stillbirths when the fetus delivered has apparently not passed the fifth month of utero-gestation. Upon receipt of any report aforesaid, said health officer shall forward to the father of the child, or, if his address be unknown, to the mother, an acknowledgment of the receipt of such report, and if the infant delivered be not stillborn, and such report does not contain the given name of the child born, a blank form on which the father or mother may certify over his or her signature the name of such child, which form, if thus executed and returned to said health officer within three months next following the date of birth, shall be a part of the official record of such birth.

SEC. 2. That no person shall, in the District of Columbia, willfully or negligently certify falsely to any fact whatsoever upon any report of a birth. And after any such report has been received by the health officer of said District no person shall alter the same otherwise than by amendments written independently of the body of the report and properly dated, signed, and witnessed. No person shall in said District make any false or fictitious report of a birth or any false or fictitious transcript of any record of a birth or of a marriage.

SEC. 3. That the reports required by this Act shall, when duly filed with the health officer of the District of Columbia, be a part of the public records of said District, and any person having an interest in any particular matter contained or reasonably believed to be contained therein, shall be permitted to inspect such certificates and reports, during all reasonable hours, without charge, so far as can be done

without interfering with the official use of such certificates by employees of the health department. The health officer aforesaid shall be the custodian of all reports filed under the provisions of this Act, and annually, and at such other times as the Commissioners of said District may direct, shall make and publish abstracts and analysis of the data therein contained.

SEC. 4. That any person violating any of the provisions of this Act or aiding or abetting in any violation thereof shall be punished by a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding ninety days, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court. And if any report required by this Act to be made within a specified time be not made within the time so specified each week or part of a week thereafter during which such report has not been made shall constituted a separate and distinct offense: Provided, however, That no report aforesaid nor any information which has been obtained by the prosecuting officer on the basis of such report shall be receivable in evidence against the person filing the same in any prosecution of such person for failure to file such report within the time allowed by law. Prosecutions under this Act shall be in the police court of the District of Columbia on informations signed by the corporation counsel of said District or by one of his assistants.

SEC. 5. That this Act shall take effect from and after the expiration of the six months immediately following its passage, and from and after that time all Acts and parts of Acts contrary to the provisions of this Act or inconsistent therewith shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

Approved, March 1, 1907.