Arizona Laws 46-453. Immunity of participants; nonprivileged communication
A. Any person making a complaint, furnishing a report, information or records required or authorized by this chapter or otherwise participating in the program authorized by this chapter or in a judicial or administrative proceeding or investigation resulting from reports, information or records submitted or obtained pursuant to this chapter is immune from any civil or criminal liability by reason of such action, unless the person acted with malice or unless such person has been charged with or is suspected of abusing, exploiting or neglecting the vulnerable adult in question. Except as provided in subsection B of this section the physician-patient privilege, husband-wife privilege or any privilege except the attorney-client privilege, provided for by professions such as the practice of social work or nursing covered by law or a code of ethics regarding practitioner-client confidences, both as they relate to the competency of the witness and to the exclusion of confidential communications, shall not pertain in any civil or criminal litigation in which a vulnerable adult‘s exploitation, abuse or neglect is an issue nor in any judicial or administrative proceeding resulting from a report, information or records submitted or obtained pursuant to section 46-454 nor in any investigation of a vulnerable adult’s exploitation, abuse or neglect conducted by a peace officer or a protective services worker.
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 46-453
- Abuse: means :
(a) Intentional infliction of physical harm. See Arizona Laws 46-451
- Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
- Exploitation: means the illegal or improper use of a vulnerable adult or the vulnerable adult's resources for another's profit or advantage. See Arizona Laws 46-451
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- Neglect: means the deprivation of food, water, medication, medical services, shelter, supervision, cooling, heating or other services necessary to maintain a vulnerable adult's minimum physical or mental health. See Arizona Laws 46-451
- Person: includes a corporation, company, partnership, firm, association or society, as well as a natural person. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Services: includes social casework, rehabilitation counseling and similar services rendered to a person or persons in need as provided for in this title. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- Vulnerable adult: means an individual who is eighteen years of age or older and who is unable to protect himself from abuse, neglect or exploitation by others because of a physical or mental impairment. See Arizona Laws 46-451
B. In any civil or criminal litigation in which incapacitation, abuse, exploitation or neglect of a vulnerable adult is an issue, a clergyman or priest shall not, without his consent, be examined as a witness concerning any confession made to him in his role as a clergyman or a priest in the course of the discipline enjoined by the church to which he belongs.