Bill Text: TX SB1107 | 2019-2020 | 86th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to the right of conscientious refusal of a health care service.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-19 - Co-author authorized [SB1107 Detail]
Download: Texas-2019-SB1107-Introduced.html
86R9840 SRA-D | ||
By: Kolkhorst | S.B. No. 1107 |
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relating to the right of conscientious refusal of a health care | ||
service. | ||
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
SECTION 1. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended | ||
by adding Subchapter X to read as follows: | ||
SUBCHAPTER X. TEXAS HEALTH CARE RIGHT OF CONSCIENCE 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) "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, including 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, or medical | ||
training facility. | ||
(3) "Health care provider" means a nurse, nurse aide, | ||
medical assistant, hospital employee, clinic employee, nursing | ||
home employee, pharmacist, pharmacy employee, researcher, medical | ||
or nursing school student, professional, paraprofessional, or, | ||
without regard to whether the individual holds a license, any other | ||
individual who furnishes or assists in the furnishing of a health | ||
care service. | ||
(4) "Health care service" means any phase of patient | ||
health care or treatment, including any conduct that may give rise | ||
to a health care liability claim, as that term is defined by Section | ||
74.001, Civil Practice and Remedies Code. The term includes: | ||
(A) testing, diagnosis, prognosis, ancillary | ||
research, instruction, medication, and surgery; | ||
(B) family planning, counseling, and referrals, | ||
and any other advice in connection with the use or procurement of | ||
contraceptives, sterilization, or abortion; and | ||
(C) any other care or treatment rendered by a | ||
health care facility, physician, or health care provider. | ||
(5) "Physician" means an individual licensed to | ||
practice medicine in this state. | ||
(6) "Undue delay" means an unreasonable delay that | ||
impairs a patient's health. | ||
Sec. 161.702. CONSCIENTIOUS REFUSAL OF HEALTH CARE SERVICE | ||
DEFINED; LIFE-SUSTAINING TREATMENT; HEALTH CARE OR TREATMENT | ||
DECISION. (a) Subject to Subsection (b), in this chapter, | ||
"conscientious refusal of a health care service" means an | ||
individual's refusal to receive, obtain, perform, assist in | ||
performing, give advice regarding, suggest, recommend, refer, or | ||
participate in a health care service that is contrary to the | ||
individual's conscience. | ||
(b) Chapter 166 governs the required provision of, and the | ||
withholding or withdrawing of, life-sustaining treatment, as that | ||
term is defined by Section 166.002. A conscientious refusal of a | ||
health care service does not include, and may not be construed to | ||
include: | ||
(1) an individual's refusal to provide or refusal to | ||
assist in providing life-sustaining treatment subject to Chapter | ||
166; or | ||
(2) a patient's advance directive or a health care or | ||
treatment decision made by or on behalf of a patient that is subject | ||
to Section 166.046. | ||
Sec. 161.703. IMMUNITY OF PHYSICIANS AND HEALTH CARE | ||
PROVIDERS. A physician or health care provider may not be held | ||
civilly or criminally liable in part because of the physician's or | ||
health care provider's conscientious refusal of a health care | ||
service. | ||
Sec. 161.704. ADVERSE ACTION RELATED TO LICENSING. A | ||
person violates this subchapter by taking an adverse action against | ||
an individual because of the individual's conscientious refusal of | ||
a health care service, including taking an adverse action with | ||
regard to: | ||
(1) licensing; | ||
(2) employment terms or status or hiring, promoting, | ||
or transferring; and | ||
(3) granting of staff appointments or other | ||
privileges. | ||
Sec. 161.705. ADVERSE ACTION RELATED TO EMPLOYMENT. A | ||
person, including 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 an applicant because of the applicant's | ||
conscientious refusal of a health care service, including taking an | ||
adverse action by: | ||
(1) denying employment, admission, or participation | ||
in a program for which an applicant is eligible; | ||
(2) referring to conscientious refusal in an | ||
application form; | ||
(3) questioning an applicant regarding the applicant's | ||
conscientious refusal of a health care service; and | ||
(4) imposing a burden in the terms or conditions of | ||
employment. | ||
Sec. 161.706. ADVERSE ACTION RELATED TO BENEFITS. A | ||
person, including a public official, violates this subchapter by | ||
taking an adverse action against a recipient entitled to any type of | ||
aid, assistance, or benefits because of the recipient's | ||
conscientious refusal of a health care service, including taking an | ||
adverse action by: | ||
(1) denying aid, assistance, or benefits; | ||
(2) conditioning receipt of the aid, assistance, or | ||
benefits; or | ||
(3) coercing or disqualifying the recipient. | ||
Sec. 161.707. CONSCIENTIOUS REFUSAL PROTOCOL. (a) A | ||
health care facility shall develop a written conscientious refusal | ||
protocol describing a patient's access to care and information to | ||
ensure that a conscientious refusal of a health care service does | ||
not permanently or substantially prevent a patient from obtaining | ||
the health care service. The protocol must explain the process the | ||
health care facility will implement to address a conscientious | ||
refusal of a health care service in a timely manner to facilitate | ||
the patient's health care service through the health care facility | ||
or another health care facility. The protocol must, at a minimum, | ||
require a health care facility, physician, or health care provider | ||
to: | ||
(1) timely inform a patient of the patient's | ||
condition, prognosis, legal treatment options, and risks and | ||
benefits of treatment options, consistent with accepted standards | ||
of health care; | ||
(2) provide copies of the patient's medical records to | ||
the patient or to another health care facility, physician, or | ||
health care provider designated by the patient in accordance with | ||
medical privacy laws, without undue delay, if requested by the | ||
patient or the patient's legal representative; and | ||
(3) take any other action necessary to transfer the | ||
patient to another health care facility. | ||
(b) The protocol must clearly differentiate between a | ||
health care service to which this chapter applies and a | ||
life-sustaining treatment governed by Chapter 166. | ||
(c) This section does not require a health care facility, | ||
physician, or health care provider to counsel a patient regarding a | ||
health care service that is contrary to the conscience of the | ||
physician or health care provider. The information required by | ||
Subsection (a)(1) may be provided by a health care facility, | ||
physician, or health care provider other than the physician or | ||
health care provider with a conscientious refusal of a health care | ||
service. | ||
(d) A physician or health care provider may not file a | ||
complaint with the appropriate licensing agency under Section | ||
161.708 unless the physician or health care provider, as | ||
applicable, complies with the applicable health care facility's | ||
conscientious refusal protocol developed under this section. | ||
Sec. 161.708. 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. | ||
(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. | ||
SECTION 2. Not later than December 1, 2019, a health care | ||
facility, as that term is defined by Section 161.701, Health and | ||
Safety Code, as added by this Act, shall adopt a conscientious | ||
refusal protocol required by Section 161.707, Health and Safety | ||
Code, as added by this Act. | ||
SECTION 3. 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 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2019. |