Bill Text: NY S02271 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires health care facilities to respect each patient's religious beliefs with regard to the provision of health care.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2018-06-19 - referred to health [S02271 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S02271-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          2271
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 12, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen.  HANNON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Health
        AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to  requiring  health
          care  facilities  to  respect  each  patient's  religious beliefs with
          regard to the provision of care
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.    Paragraph  (g)  of subdivision 1 of section 2803 of the
     2  public health law, as added by chapter 2 of the laws of 1988, is amended
     3  to read as follows:
     4    (g) The commissioner shall require that every general  hospital  adopt
     5  and  make  public  an identical statement of the rights and responsibil-
     6  ities of patients, including a patient complaint  and  quality  of  care
     7  review  process,  a  right  to  an appropriate patient discharge plan, a
     8  right to independent personal  decisions  pursuant  to  paragraph  a  of
     9  subdivision  three of section twenty-eight hundred three-c of this arti-
    10  cle and, for patients other than beneficiaries of  title  XVIII  of  the
    11  federal social security act (medicare), a right to a discharge review in
    12  accordance  with  section  twenty-eight hundred three-i of this article.
    13  The form and content of such statement shall be determined in accordance
    14  with rules and regulations adopted by the council and  approved  by  the
    15  commissioner.  A patient who requires continuing health care services in
    16  accordance  with  such  patient's  discharge  plan may not be discharged
    17  until such services are secured or determined  by  the  hospital  to  be
    18  reasonably  available to the patient. Each general hospital shall give a
    19  copy of the statement to each patient, or the appointed personal  repre-
    20  sentative  of  the  patient  at or prior to the time of admission to the
    21  general hospital, as long as  the  patient  or  the  appointed  personal
    22  representative of the patient receives such notice no earlier than four-
    23  teen  days  before admission. Such statement shall also be conspicuously
    24  posted by the hospital and shall be a part of  the  patient's  admission
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02909-01-7
        S. 2271                             2
     1  package.  Nothing  herein  contained  shall  be  construed  to limit any
     2  authority vested in the commissioner pursuant to this article related to
     3  the operation of hospitals and care and services provided to patients.
     4    §  2.  Paragraph  a  of  subdivision 3 of section 2803-c of the public
     5  health law, as added by chapter 648 of the laws of 1975, is  amended  to
     6  read as follows:
     7    a.  Every patient's civil and religious liberties, including the right
     8  to independent personal decisions and knowledge  of  available  choices,
     9  shall not be infringed and the facility shall [encourage] facilitate and
    10  assist  in  the  fullest  possible  exercise  of  these  rights.   Every
    11  patient's religious beliefs shall be respected with regard to  withhold-
    12  ing  or  withdrawing  life  sustaining  treatments,  or discharge from a
    13  facility. If such patient is incapacitated, such determination shall  be
    14  made by their agent or surrogate as applicable by law.
    15    §  3.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    16  have become a law.