Ark. Code Ann. § 12-12-602 (2026)

1. All physicians, surgeons, hospitals, druggists, or other persons or entities that render first aid treatment to a person shall report as provided in subsection (b) of this section if they treat or receive in the hospital a case of a:
   1. Knife or gunshot wound when the knife or gunshot wound appears to have been intentionally inflicted; or
   2. Burn wound that could reasonably be connected to criminal activity that is:
      1. A second or third degree burn to five percent (5%) or more of a person's body; or
      2. A burn to a person's upper respiratory tract or laryngeal edema due to the inhalation of super-heated air.
2. The reporting requirements of this subchapter are satisfied if:
   1. The report is made to the county sheriff;
   2. Within a city of the first class, the report is made to the municipal law enforcement agency; or
   3. The report is made under subdivision (a)(2) of this section to the local fire marshal, fire chief, assistant fire chief, or an officer of the fire department having jurisdiction.
3. A physician, surgeon, hospital, druggist, or other person or entity required to report under this section that, in good faith, makes a report under this section has immunity from any civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed with respect to the making of a report under this section.

History. Acts 1949, No. 258, § 1; A.S.A. 1947, § 42-501; Acts 2005, No. 1962, § 33; 2011, No. 270, § 1.

Amendments. The 2005 amendment, in (a), deleted “whether public or private, and all” preceding “druggists,” substituted “persons or entities” for “persons,” and “render” for “might be called upon to render,” inserted “to the office of the sheriff of the county,” substituted “when the” for “which” and deleted “to the office of the sheriff of the county or to one of his or her regular commissioned deputies” at the end.

The 2011 amendment subdivided (a) into (a)(1) and (a)(2); in the introductory paragraph of (a), inserted “to a person” and substituted “as provided in subsection (b) of this section if they treat or receive in the hospital a case of a” for “to the office of the county sheriff of the county all cases of”; substituted “wound when the knife or gunshot wound appears” for “wounds treated by them or received in the hospital when the wounds appear” in (a)(1); added (a)(2); rewrote (b); and added (c).