Bill Text: TX HB142 | 2021 | 87th Legislature 2nd Special Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to protection of persons from participation in a health care service for reasons of conscience; providing a civil remedy; authorizing disciplinary action.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-08-10 - Filed [HB142 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB142-Introduced.html
| 87S20459 SRA-D | ||
| By: Oliverson | H.B. No. 142 | |
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| relating to protection of persons from participation in a health | ||
| care service for reasons of conscience; providing a civil remedy; | ||
| authorizing disciplinary action. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. The legislature finds that: | ||
| (1) the public policy of this state is to respect the | ||
| conscience of all health care providers and the right of each health | ||
| care provider to hold their own belief about whether certain health | ||
| care services are morally acceptable; | ||
| (2) without comprehensive protections, the conscience | ||
| of health care providers may be violated; and | ||
| (3) each health care provider must be protected from | ||
| required participation in a health care service in which the | ||
| provider has declined participation for reasons of conscience and | ||
| from discriminatory adverse action resulting from the | ||
| nonparticipation. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended | ||
| by adding Subchapter X to read as follows: | ||
| SUBCHAPTER X. TEXAS HEALTH CARE CONSCIENCE PROTECTION ACT | ||
| Sec. 161.701. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter: | ||
| (1) "Conscience" means a sincerely held set of moral | ||
| convictions arising from: | ||
| (A) a belief in and relation to God; | ||
| (B) a religious faith or spiritual practice; or | ||
| (C) a moral philosophy or ethical position, | ||
| without regard to whether the philosophy or position is related to a | ||
| religious faith. | ||
| (2) "Emergency care" means bona fide emergency | ||
| services provided after a sudden onset of a medical or traumatic | ||
| condition manifested by acute symptoms of sufficient severity, | ||
| including severe pain, such that the absence of immediate medical | ||
| attention could reasonably be expected to: | ||
| (A) place the patient's health in serious | ||
| jeopardy; | ||
| (B) result in serious impairment to the patient's | ||
| bodily functions; or | ||
| (C) result in serious dysfunction of any bodily | ||
| organ or part of the patient. | ||
| (3) "Health care facility" means a public or private | ||
| organization, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, | ||
| association, agency, network, joint venture, or other entity that | ||
| provides health care services to patients. The term includes a | ||
| hospital, clinic, medical center, ambulatory surgical center, | ||
| private physician's office, pharmacy, nursing home, laboratory or | ||
| diagnostic facility, infirmary, dispensary, medical school, | ||
| nursing school, pharmacy school, or medical training facility. | ||
| (4) "Health care provider" means a nurse, nurse aide, | ||
| medical assistant, hospital employee, allied health professional, | ||
| laboratory technician, clinic employee, nursing home employee, | ||
| pharmacist, pharmacy employee, researcher, medical, pharmacy, or | ||
| nursing school student, professional, paraprofessional, or, | ||
| without regard to whether the person holds a license, any other | ||
| person who furnishes or assists in the furnishing of a health care | ||
| service. | ||
| (5) "Health care service" means any phase of patient | ||
| health care or treatment. The term includes: | ||
| (A) examination, testing, diagnosis, referral, | ||
| prognosis, dispensing or administering a drug or device, ancillary | ||
| research, instruction, therapy, treatment, and preparing for or | ||
| performing a surgery or procedure; | ||
| (B) family planning, counseling, and referrals, | ||
| and any other advice in connection with the use or procurement of | ||
| contraceptives, sterilization, or abortion; and | ||
| (C) record-making procedures, preparation of | ||
| treatment notes, and any other care or treatment rendered by a | ||
| health care facility, physician, or health care provider. | ||
| (6) "Physician" means an individual licensed to | ||
| practice medicine in this state. | ||
| Sec. 161.702. RIGHT TO DECLINE PARTICIPATION IN HEALTH CARE | ||
| SERVICE FOR REASONS OF CONSCIENCE; CONSTRUCTION OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) | ||
| Except as provided by Subsection (b), a person may decline to | ||
| participate in a health care service for reasons of conscience. | ||
| (b) A person may not decline to participate in the following | ||
| services: | ||
| (1) emergency care; or | ||
| (2) except as provided by Chapter 166, life-sustaining | ||
| treatment. | ||
| (c) Nothing in this subchapter may be construed to: | ||
| (1) supersede Chapter 166 governing the provision, | ||
| withholding, or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment; or | ||
| (2) apply to emergency care, life-sustaining | ||
| treatment, or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. | ||
| (d) An exercise of the right of conscience under this | ||
| section is limited to a person's right to refuse to participate in a | ||
| specific health care service. | ||
| Sec. 161.703. IMMUNITY OF PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH CARE | ||
| PROVIDERS. A physician or health care provider may not be held | ||
| civilly or criminally liable because the physician or health care | ||
| provider declines to participate in a health care service wholly or | ||
| partly for reasons of conscience. | ||
| Sec. 161.704. ADVERSE ACTION. A person, including a public | ||
| official and a medical school or other institution that conducts | ||
| education or training programs for physicians or health care | ||
| providers, violates this subchapter by taking an adverse action | ||
| against another person because the other person declines to | ||
| participate in a health care service for reasons of conscience. | ||
| Violations include discrimination against or taking an adverse | ||
| action with regard to: | ||
| (1) licensure; | ||
| (2) certification; | ||
| (3) employment terms, benefits, seniority status, | ||
| promotion, or transfer; | ||
| (4) staff appointments or other privileges; | ||
| (5) denial of employment, admission, or participation | ||
| in a program for which the other person is eligible; | ||
| (6) reference to reasons of conscience in an | ||
| application form; | ||
| (7) questions regarding an applicant's participation | ||
| in providing a health care service for reasons of conscience; | ||
| (8) imposition of a burden in the terms or conditions | ||
| of employment; | ||
| (9) denial of aid, assistance, or benefits; | ||
| (10) conditional receipt of the aid, assistance, or | ||
| benefits; or | ||
| (11) coercion or disqualification of the other person | ||
| receiving aid, assistance, or benefits. | ||
| Sec. 161.705. PROTOCOL FOR DECLINING PARTICIPATION IN | ||
| PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE SERVICE. (a) A health care facility shall | ||
| develop a written protocol for circumstances in which a person | ||
| declines to participate in providing a health care service, other | ||
| than emergency care or life-sustaining treatment, for reasons of | ||
| conscience. The protocol must describe a patient's access to health | ||
| care services and information to ensure the patient is not | ||
| permanently or substantially prevented from obtaining the | ||
| services. The protocol must explain the process the facility will | ||
| implement to facilitate in a timely manner the patient's access to | ||
| the services. | ||
| (b) A person who declines to participate in providing a | ||
| health care service for reasons of conscience shall: | ||
| (1) notify the health care facility of the | ||
| declination; and | ||
| (2) comply with the applicable protocol developed | ||
| under this section. | ||
| (c) A protocol developed under this section may not require | ||
| a health care facility, physician, or health care provider to | ||
| counsel a patient or refer the patient to another physician or | ||
| facility regarding a health care service that is contrary to the | ||
| conscience of the physician or health care provider. | ||
| Sec. 161.706. DISCIPLINARY ACTION; COMPLAINT. (a) A | ||
| health care facility, physician, or health care provider that holds | ||
| a license issued by a licensing agency in this state is subject to | ||
| review and disciplinary action by the licensing agency for a | ||
| violation of this subchapter as if the facility, physician, or | ||
| provider violated the applicable licensing law. | ||
| (b) A person who is injured by a violation of this | ||
| subchapter may file a complaint with the licensing agency that | ||
| issued a license to the health care facility, physician, or health | ||
| care provider that allegedly violated this subchapter. | ||
| (c) A physician or health care provider may not file a | ||
| complaint with the appropriate licensing agency under this section | ||
| unless the physician or health care provider complies with the | ||
| health care facility's protocol developed under Section 161.705. | ||
| Sec. 161.707. CIVIL REMEDIES. A person who is injured by a | ||
| violation of this subchapter may bring a civil action against a | ||
| person who violates this subchapter. A person who brings the action | ||
| under this section may obtain: | ||
| (1) injunctive relief; | ||
| (2) damages incurred by the person, including: | ||
| (A) actual damages for all psychological, | ||
| emotional, and physical injuries resulting from the violation of | ||
| this subchapter; | ||
| (B) court costs; and | ||
| (C) reasonable attorney's fees; or | ||
| (3) both injunctive relief and damages. | ||
| SECTION 3. Not later than March 1, 2022, a health care | ||
| facility, as that term is defined by Section 161.701, Health and | ||
| Safety Code, as added by this Act, shall adopt protocols required by | ||
| Section 161.705, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act. | ||
| SECTION 4. Section 161.703, Health and Safety Code, as | ||
| added by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on | ||
| or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
| SECTION 5. This Act takes effect January 1, 2022. | ||
