Bill Text: NY A02794 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the department of health to develop and maternal health care providers to distribute written information about episiotomy to maternity patients.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2024-01-31 - REFERRED TO WOMEN'S ISSUES [A02794 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A02794-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2794

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 27, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A. PAULIN, SEAWRIGHT, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, SAYEGH,
          SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health

        AN ACT to amend the public health law,  in  relation  to  requiring  the
          department  of health to develop and maternal health care providers to
          distribute written information about episiotomy to maternity patients

          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  2500-m to read as follows:
     3    § 2500-m. Duty of providers of maternity services to  inform.  1.  (a)
     4  Every  maternal  health care provider shall provide the written communi-
     5  cation established in subdivision two of this section prior to  delivery
     6  to each pregnant patient for whom a vaginal delivery is planned.
     7    (b)  Every  maternal  health  care  provider  who attends to a vaginal
     8  delivery which was not planned  prenatally  shall  provide  the  written
     9  communication  established  in  subdivision  two  of this section to the
    10  patient following delivery.
    11    (c) As used in  this  section:  "maternal  health  care  provider"  or
    12  "provider"  shall  mean  a  physician,  midwife,  nurse practitioner, or
    13  physician assistant, acting within the practitioner's scope of practice,
    14  managing the pregnancy or labor of a pregnant patient.
    15    2. (a) The commissioner  shall  develop  a  written  communication  or
    16  communications  for  maternal  health  care  providers  to distribute to
    17  maternity patients as required in subdivision one of this section, which
    18  contains information about episiotomy. The  commissioner  shall  consult
    19  with appropriate health care professionals, providers, consumers, educa-
    20  tors  and patients or organizations representing them, including but not
    21  limited to the American College of Obstetricians and  Gynecologists  and
    22  the  New  York  State  Association  of Licensed Midwives to develop such
    23  written communication or communications.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04559-01-3
        A. 2794                             2

     1    (b) Such written communication or communications  shall  include,  but
     2  not be limited to information on:
     3    i. potential maternal injuries associated with episiotomy;
     4    ii. the impact an episiotomy may have on future deliveries;
     5    iii.  circumstances  in  which episiotomy may be necessary to save the
     6  life or protect the health of the mother or fetus; and
     7    iv. the general requirement that an episiotomy may only be  done  with
     8  the  patient's  consent and the circumstances in which an episiotomy may
     9  be done without patient consent.
    10    (c) The commissioner shall ensure that all information included in the
    11  written communication or communications are maintained  and  updated  to
    12  reflect current clinical guidelines.
    13    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    14  it  shall  have become a law. Effective immediately, the commissioner of
    15  health shall make regulations and take other actions  reasonably  neces-
    16  sary to implement this act on that date.