CHAPTER 3711: MATERNITY BOARDINGHOUSES

A person shall not maintain a maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital, unless licensed to do so by the department of health.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The public health council shall adopt rules in accordance with Chapter 119. of the Revised Code establishing application procedures for license issuance and renewal under this chapter.

The director of health may grant licenses to maintain maternity hospitals or homes, lying-in hospitals, or places where women are received and cared for during parturition. An application therefor shall first be approved by the board of health of the city health district or the board of health of the general health district in which such maternity hospital or home, lying-in hospital, or place where women are received and cared for during parturition is to be maintained. A record of such license shall be kept by the department of health, which shall forthwith give notice to the board of health of the city health district or the board of health of the general health district, in which the licensee resides, of the granting of such license and of its terms.

Effective Date: 07-01-1993

For the purposes of this chapter, a maternity hospital or lying-in hospital includes a limited maternity unit, which is a unit in a hospital that contains no other maternity unit, in which care is provided during all or part of the maternity cycle and newborns receive care in a private room serving all antepartum, labor, delivery, recovery, postpartum, and nursery needs.

The director of health may charge a maternity hospital or lying-in hospital seeking an initial or renewal license under this chapter a fee not exceeding the following:

(A) Four thousand forty-two dollars for a hospital in which not less than two thousand births occurred the previous calendar year;

(B) Three thousand five hundred seventeen dollars for a hospital in which not more than one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine and not less than one thousand births occurred the previous calendar year;

(C) Two thousand nine hundred ninety-two dollars for a hospital in which not more than nine hundred ninety-nine and not less than six hundred fifty births occurred the previous calendar year;

(D) Two thousand four hundred sixty-seven dollars for a hospital in which not more than six hundred forty-nine and not less than four hundred fifty births occurred the previous calendar year;

(E) One thousand nine hundred forty-two dollars for a hospital in which not more than four hundred forty-nine births and not less than one hundred births occurred the previous calendar year;

(F) One thousand four hundred seventeen dollars for a hospital in which not more than ninety-nine births occurred the previous calendar year.

The director shall deposit all fees collected under this section into the general operations fund created under section 3701.83 of the Revised Code. Money generated by the fees shall be used only for administration and enforcement of this chapter and rules adopted under it.

Effective Date: 06-26-2003

A license to maintain a maternity hospital or home, lying-in hospital, or place where women are received and cared for during parturition shall be granted for not more than one year. Such license shall state:

(A) The name of the licensee;

(B) The particular premises in which the business may be carried on;

(C) The number of women and infants that may be boarded, treated, or maintained there at any one time.

If required by the board of health of the city health district or the board of health of the general district in which the maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital is located, such license shall be posted in a conspicuous place on the premises.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

No greater number of women and infants shall be kept at one time on premises, licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code, than that authorized by the license. No women or infants shall be kept in a building or place not designated in the license.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

The director of health and the board of health of city health districts and general health districts shall, annually, and may, at any time, visit and inspect, or designate a person to visit and inspect, the system, condition, and management of the institutions and premises licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 07-01-1993

The department of health may revoke a license issued under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code when sections 3711.01 to 3711.13, inclusive, of the Revised Code, are violated, or when, in the opinion of the department, the maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital is maintained without regard to the health, comfort, or morality of the inmates thereof, or without due regard to sanitation and hygiene.

The department shall note such revocation upon the face of the record thereof and give written notice of the revocation to the licensee by delivering the notice to him in person or leaving it on the licensed premises, and shall forthwith notify the board of health of the city health district or general health district in which the maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital is situated.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

A birth which takes place in a maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital shall be attended by a qualified physician who shall forthwith report such birth to the board of health of the city health district or general health district in which the maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital is located.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

A person holding a license to operate a maternity hospital or home, lying-in hospital, or place where women are received and cared for during parturition shall keep a record, in a form to be prescribed by the department of health, wherein he shall enter:

(A) The name and address of the physician who attended at the birth taking place in such home or hospital of any infant who may be sick;

(B) The name, age, and sex of children born on the premises or brought thereto;

(C) The age of a child who is given out, adopted, or taken away to or by any person, together with the name and residence of the person adopting or taking away such child.

Within twenty-four hours after such child is given out or taken away, the person licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code shall cause a correct copy of the record relating thereto to be sent to the board of health of the city health district or of the general health district wherein such home or hospital is located.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

A person licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code, immediately after the death of an inmate of the boardinghouse or lying-in hospital, whether a woman or an infant born therein or brought thereto, shall cause notice thereof to be given to the board of health of the city health district or of the general health district in which such house or hospital is located.

Such board shall forthwith call the coroner of the county in which said person died to hold an inquest on the body of the person, unless a certificate under the hand of a qualified physician is exhibited to said board by the licensee, showing that such physician had personally attended and examined such person, and specifying the cause of death, and unless the board is satisfied that there is no ground for holding an inquest.

Effective Date: 03-17-1955

The officers and agents of the department of health and of the boards of health of the city health districts or general health districts in which the premises, licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code, are located may inspect such premises and examine every part thereof, call for and examine the records which are required to be kept, and inquire into all matters concerning such premises and the inmates thereof. The licensee shall give all reasonable information to the persons inspecting and afford them every reasonable facility for viewing and inspecting the premises and seeing the inmates thereof. When complaint is made or a reasonable belief exists that a maternity boardinghouse or lying-in hospital is being conducted without a license, the board of health of a city health district or the board of a general health district may cause such house to be inspected by its health officer or the department of health may designate a person to visit and inspect such premises.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

No officer or agent of the department of health or the boards of health of the city health district or general health district where homes or hospitals licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code are located, or a keeper of such home or hospital, shall divulge the contents of its records or of the particulars entered therein, except upon inquiry before a court, at a coroner’s inquest, or before some other competent tribunal, or for the information of the department or of the board of health of the city health district or general health district in which said home or hospital is located.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

A person, licensed under section 3711.02 of the Revised Code, shall receive gratuitously from the department of health a book of forms for the registration and record of persons received into the home or hospital. Such book shall contain a printed copy of sections 3711.01 to 3711.13, inclusive, and 3711.99 of the Revised Code.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

In a prosecution under sections 3711.01 to 3711.13, inclusive, of the Revised Code, a defendant who relies for defense upon the relationship of any of said women or infants to himself has the burden of proof thereof.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953

(A) Whoever violates sections 3711.01 to 3711.13, inclusive, of the Revised Code, shall be fined not more than three hundred dollars.

Effective Date: 10-01-1953