Illinois Code § 8.1

§ 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.)