(740 ILCS 110/8.1) (from Ch. 91 1/2, par. 808.1)
Sec. 8.1.
The agency designated by the Governor under Section 1 of "An
Act in relation to the protection and advocacy of the rights of persons
with developmental disabilities, and amending Acts therein named", approved
September 20, 1985, as now or hereafter amended, shall have access, for the
purpose of inspection and copying, to the records of a person with
developmental disabilities who resides in a developmental disability facility
or mental health facility, as defined in Sections 1-107 and 1-114,
respectively, of the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code, as now
or hereafter amended, if (a) a complaint is received by such agency from or on
behalf of the person with a developmental disability, and (b) such person does
not have a guardian of the person or the State or the designee of the State is
his or her guardian of the person. The designated agency shall provide
written notice of the receipt of a complaint to the custodian of the
records of the person from whom or on whose behalf a complaint is received.
The designated agency shall provide to the person with developmental
disabilities and to his or her State guardian, if appointed, written
notice of the nature of the complaint based upon which the designated
agency has gained access to the records. No record or the contents of any
record shall be redisclosed by the designated agency unless the person with
developmental disabilities and the State guardian are provided 7 days
advance written notice, except in emergency situations, of the designated
agency's intent to redisclose such record, during which time the person with
developmental disabilities or the State guardian may seek to judicially enjoin
the designated agency's redisclosure of such record on the grounds that such
redisclosure is contrary to the interests of the person with developmental
disabilities. If a person with developmental disabilities resides in a
developmental disability or mental health facility and has a guardian other
than the State or the designee of the State, the facility director shall
disclose the guardian's name, address and telephone number to the designated
agency at the agency's request.
Upon written request and after the provision of written notice to the agency,
facility or other body from which records and other materials are sought of the
designated agency's investigation of problems affecting numbers of persons with
developmental disabilities, the designated agency shall be entitled to inspect
and copy any records or other materials which may further the agency's
investigation of problems affecting numbers of persons with developmental
disabilities. When required by law any personally identifiable information of
persons with developmental disabilities shall be removed from the records.
However, the designated agency may not inspect or copy records or other
materials when the removal of personally identifiable information imposes an
unreasonable burden on mental health and developmental disabilities facilities.
For the purposes of this Section, "developmental disability" means a
severe, chronic disability of a person which -
(A) is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of
mental and physical impairments;
(B) is manifested before the person attains age 22;
(C) is likely to continue indefinitely;
(D) results in substantial functional limitations in 3 or more of the
following areas of major life activity: (i) self-care, (ii) receptive and
expressive language, (iii) learning, (iv) mobility, (v) self-direction,
(vi) capacity for independent living, and (vii) economic self-sufficiency; and
(E) reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special,
interdisciplinary or generic care, treatment or other services which are of
lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated.
(Source: P.A. 88-380.)
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