Bill Text: NY A00520 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to requiring a medical facility or related service to obtain express prior written consent before filming and/or broadcasting of visual images of a patient's medical treatment.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 16-4)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-01-12 - REFERRED TO CODES [A00520 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A00520-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         520--A

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 6, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced   by   M.  of  A.  BRAUNSTEIN,  GOTTFRIED,  ZEBROWSKI,  COOK,
          SEAWRIGHT, GALEF, HEVESI, WEPRIN,  L. ROSENTHAL,  GRIFFIN,  RODRIGUEZ,
          MONTESANO, FRIEND, BARRON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. McDONOUGH,
          NOLAN,  PALMESANO,  PEOPLES-STOKES, SIMON -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Health -- reported and referred to the  Committee  on
          Codes  --  committee  discharged,  bill  amended, ordered reprinted as
          amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the public health law  and  the  civil  rights  law,  in
          relation  to  prohibiting  the  making  and/or  broadcasting of visual
          images of individuals undergoing medical treatment without prior writ-
          ten consent

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The  public health law is amended by adding a new section
     2  2806-c to read as follows:
     3    § 2806-c. Restrictions on broadcasting of patients. 1.  Every  patient
     4  in  a  health  care  facility in this state shall have the right to have
     5  privacy in treatment and in caring for  personal  needs,  including  the
     6  broadcasting  of  the  recognizable  image  or  speech  of  such patient
     7  involved in a health care procedure within the confines of such  facili-
     8  ty,  with  the  exception  of  broadcasting such image or speech for the
     9  purposes of advancing the health care treatment  of  the  individual,  a
    10  quality  assurance  program,  the  education  or training of health care
    11  personnel, or appropriate security purposes.
    12    2. Such privacy in treatment shall include the obtaining by the health
    13  care facility of express written consent on  a  separate  document  used
    14  solely  for  such purpose from an individual receiving treatment in such
    15  facility prior to broadcasting the recognizable image or speech of  such
    16  patient  involved  in  such  treatment.  In the case of broadcasting the
    17  recognizable image or speech for education or training  of  health  care

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03464-04-1
        A. 520--A                           2

     1  personnel,  the  patient  shall have the right to know of and shall have
     2  the right to refuse the broadcasting for that purpose. A person  legally
     3  authorized  to  make  health care decisions for the patient or otherwise
     4  authorized to consent may grant such consent or exercise such refusal if
     5  the patient cannot reasonably do so due to such patient's incapacity.
     6    3. For the purposes of this section:
     7    (a) "health care facility" shall mean a residential health care facil-
     8  ity,  general hospital, free-standing ambulatory care facility, diagnos-
     9  tic and/or treatment center and clinic authorized under this article, or
    10  within an ambulance with all  doors  closed  operated  by  an  ambulance
    11  service  as  defined by subdivision two of section three thousand one of
    12  this chapter or by a voluntary ambulance service as defined by  subdivi-
    13  sion three of section three thousand one of this chapter;
    14    (b) "quality assurance" shall mean any evaluation of services provided
    15  in  or  by a health care facility for purposes of improvement in safety,
    16  quality or outcomes;
    17    (c) "education or training of health  care  personnel"  shall  mean  a
    18  program  of  education  or training of health care personnel or students
    19  being educated or trained to be health care personnel, that  the  health
    20  care facility has authorized;
    21    (d)  "broadcasting"  of  an image or speech shall mean transmission by
    22  broadcast, cable, closed circuit, internet or other television or visual
    23  medium, social media, or other system by  which  it  can  be  viewed  in
    24  violation of the privacy rights and expectations of a patient.  Provided
    25  however,  that broadcasting shall not include incidental transmission of
    26  the image or speech of  an  individual  being  treated,  transported  or
    27  otherwise cared for or attended to by an ambulance service as defined in
    28  subdivision  two  of  section three thousand one of this chapter or by a
    29  voluntary ambulance service as defined in subdivision three  of  section
    30  three  thousand  one  of  this  chapter, at an ambulance response scene,
    31  public area or during delivery or admission to a health  care  facility,
    32  that is captured by news media, bystanders or others who do not have the
    33  written  consent  of  such  ambulance  service  or  voluntary  ambulance
    34  service.
    35    (e) Nothing in this section shall apply where such recognizable  image
    36  or speech is broadcast or conveyed as part of the news gathering process
    37  among  professional  journalists,  newscasters  or  other individuals or
    38  entities, including those defined in subdivision (a) of  section  seven-
    39  ty-nine-h  of the civil rights law, and their agents and legal advisers,
    40  but not broadcast to the public.
    41    4. No health care facility, as defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision
    42  three of this section, shall incur any liability under this section  for
    43  the broadcasting by a third party of the recognizable image or speech of
    44  a  patient involved in a health care procedure in the facility when such
    45  image or speech was obtained by the third party without the knowledge or
    46  consent of the facility or its staff.
    47    5.  Nothing in this section shall diminish  or  impair  any  right  or
    48  remedy otherwise applicable to any patient.
    49    §  2.  Section 50-c of the civil rights law, as amended by chapter 643
    50  of the laws of 1999, is amended to read as follows:
    51    § 50-c. Private right of action.  1. If the identity of the victim  of
    52  an offense defined in subdivision one of section fifty-b of this article
    53  is  disclosed  in  violation of such section, any person injured by such
    54  disclosure may bring an action to recover damages suffered by reason  of
    55  such  wrongful disclosure. In any action brought under this section, the
    56  court may award reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
        A. 520--A                           3

     1    2. If the privacy of an individual as defined in section  twenty-eight
     2  hundred  six-c  of  the  public  health  law regarding the right to have
     3  privacy in treatment and in caring for  personal  needs,  including  the
     4  broadcasting  of  the recognizable image or speech of a patient involved
     5  in  a  health  care procedure in such a facility has been violated, such
     6  individual or his or her estate representative may bring  an  action  to
     7  recover  damages  suffered  by  reason  of such violation. In any action
     8  brought under this section, the court may  award  reasonable  attorney's
     9  fees to a prevailing plaintiff. The cause of action created herein shall
    10  survive  the death of such individual and shall only apply to violations
    11  occurring on and after the effective date of this subdivision.
    12    3. Nothing in this section shall diminish or impair any right or reme-
    13  dy otherwise applicable to any patient.
    14    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.