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Committee approves amendment and refers bill limiting criminal penalties for unintentional medical errors
Summary
Senate File 971, as amended, would clarify that the legislature does not intend to criminalize honest medical errors; committee adopted an amendment specifying the bill does not shield willful criminal acts and then voted to send the measure to Judiciary and Public Safety.
The committee resumed consideration of Senate File 971 and adopted an amendment clarifying the measure’s intent to protect clinicians from criminal liability for inadvertent medical errors while preserving accountability for intentional criminal conduct.
Senator Mann, sponsor of the amendment, told the committee: “This does not provide blanket immunity for people doing bad things to patients. This does not protect criminals. This does not, protect people who are violating willfully violating the law.” The amendment’s author said the example prompting the bill involved a nurse who mismatched medications and lost her license after the mistake; sponsors said the aim was to avoid criminal records or imprisonment for honest clinical errors that are already addressed in licensing processes.
After discussion, the committee adopted the A3 amendment by voice vote. The committee then voted to refer Senate File 971 as amended to the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
