Bill Text: TX HB1773 | 2021-2022 | 87th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to creating the criminal offenses of obtaining unneeded medical treatment by deception for a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual and continuous abuse of a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 4-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2021-03-22 - Left pending in committee [HB1773 Detail]
Download: Texas-2021-HB1773-Introduced.html
| 87R6877 MEW-F | ||
| By: Cook | H.B. No. 1773 | |
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| relating to creating the criminal offenses of obtaining unneeded | ||
| medical treatment by deception for a child, elderly individual, or | ||
| disabled individual and continuous abuse of a child, elderly | ||
| individual, or disabled individual. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. This Act shall be known as Alyssa's Law. | ||
| SECTION 2. Chapter 22, Penal Code, is amended by adding | ||
| Sections 22.042 and 22.043 to read as follows: | ||
| Sec. 22.042. OBTAINING UNNEEDED MEDICAL TREATMENT BY | ||
| DECEPTION FOR CHILD, ELDERLY INDIVIDUAL, OR DISABLED INDIVIDUAL. | ||
| (a) In this section: | ||
| (1) "Child," "disabled individual," and "elderly | ||
| individual" have the meanings assigned by Section 22.04. | ||
| (2) "Health care provider" means a person who is | ||
| licensed, certified, or otherwise authorized by the laws of this | ||
| state to provide health care in the ordinary course of business or | ||
| practice of a profession, including a paramedic, physician | ||
| assistant, licensed nurse, or licensed physician. | ||
| (3) "Medical history" includes any oral, written, or | ||
| electronic communication regarding an individual's current or | ||
| previous symptoms, diagnoses, or family medical history. | ||
| (4) "Medical treatment" includes a prescription for a | ||
| controlled substance, inpatient or outpatient surgery, or the | ||
| administration of general anesthesia. The term does not include a | ||
| vaccination. | ||
| (b) A person commits an offense if the person knowingly | ||
| provides false medical history to a health care provider to obtain | ||
| an unneeded medical treatment for a child, elderly individual, or | ||
| disabled individual. | ||
| (c) An offense under this section is a felony of the third | ||
| degree. | ||
| Sec. 22.043. CONTINUOUS ABUSE OF CHILD, ELDERLY INDIVIDUAL, | ||
| OR DISABLED INDIVIDUAL. (a) A person commits an offense if, during | ||
| a period that is 30 or more days but less than five years in | ||
| duration, the person engages two or more times in conduct that | ||
| constitutes an offense under Section 22.04 or 22.042 against one or | ||
| more victims. | ||
| (b) If a jury is the trier of fact, members of the jury are | ||
| not required to agree unanimously on which specific conduct engaged | ||
| in by the defendant constituted an offense under Section 22.04 or | ||
| 22.042 or on which exact date the defendant engaged in that conduct. | ||
| The jury must agree unanimously that the defendant, during a period | ||
| that is 30 or more days but less than five years in duration, | ||
| engaged two or more times in conduct that constituted an offense | ||
| under Section 22.04 or 22.042. | ||
| (c) If the victim of an offense under Subsection (a) is the | ||
| same victim as a victim of an offense under Section 22.04 or 22.042, | ||
| a defendant may not be convicted of the offense under Section 22.04 | ||
| or 22.042 in the same criminal action as the offense under | ||
| Subsection (a), unless the offense under Section 22.04 or 22.042: | ||
| (1) is charged in the alternative; | ||
| (2) occurred outside the period in which the offense | ||
| alleged under Subsection (a) was committed; or | ||
| (3) is considered by the trier of fact to be a lesser | ||
| included offense of the offense alleged under Subsection (a). | ||
| (d) A defendant may not be charged with more than one count | ||
| under Subsection (a) if all of the conduct that constitutes an | ||
| offense under Section 22.04 or 22.042 is alleged to have been | ||
| committed against the same victim. | ||
| (e) An offense under this section is a felony of the second | ||
| degree. | ||
| SECTION 3. The change in law made by this Act applies only | ||
| to an offense committed on or after the effective date of this Act. | ||
| An offense committed before the effective date of this Act is | ||
| governed by the law in effect on the date the offense was committed, | ||
| and the former law is continued in effect for that purpose. For | ||
| purposes of this section, an offense was committed before the | ||
| effective date of this Act if any element of the offense occurred | ||
| before that date. | ||
| SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021. | ||
