A person may leave a newborn child with the personnel of a hospital, fire station, or police station, or emergency services personnel without being subject to prosecution for abandonment of a child pursuant to § 709-902; provided that:

(1) The newborn child was born within seventy-two hours of being left at the hospital, fire station, or police station, or with emergency services personnel as determined within a reasonable degree of medical certainty; and

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-2

  • Fire station: means a building for fire equipment and firefighters. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Hospital: means a facility licensed as a hospital by the department of health and accredited by The Joint Commission. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Police station: means a facility where police officers report for assignments, paperwork, and other police business. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1
  • Unharmed condition: means no evidence of injury to a newborn child's physical or psychological health or welfare, as evidenced in any case where:

    (1) The newborn child is alive and exhibits no:

    (A) Substantial or multiple skin bruising or any other internal bleeding;

    (B) Injury to skin causing substantial bleeding;

    (C) Malnutrition;

    (D) Failure to thrive;

    (E) Burn or burns;

    (F) Poisoning;

    (G) Fracture of any bone;

    (H) Subdural hematoma;

    (I) Soft tissue swelling;

    (J) Extreme pain;

    (K) Extreme mental distress; or

    (L) Gross degradation;

    (2) The newborn child has not been the victim of:

    (A) Sexual contact or conduct, including rape, sodomy, molestation, sexual fondling, or incest;

    (B) Obscene or pornographic photographing, filming, or depiction; or

    (C) Other similar forms of sexual exploitation;

    (3) Injury does not exist to the psychological capacity of a child as evidenced by a substantial impairment in the child's ability to function;

    (4) The child has been provided in a timely manner with adequate food, clothing, shelter, psychological care, physical care, medical care, and supervision; or

    (5) The child has not been provided with dangerous, harmful, or detrimental drugs, as defined by section 712-1240; except in cases where a child's family provides the drugs to the child pursuant to the direction or prescription of a practitioner, as defined in section 712-1240. See Hawaii Revised Statutes 587D-1

(2) The newborn child is left in an unharmed condition.