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Senate panel debates criminalization of sexual activity between care providers and patients; disability advocates urge changes
Summary
Senate Bill 81 would make certain consensual sexual or romantic relationships between care providers and patients a class A misdemeanor when a vulnerability or power imbalance exists; the committee adopted an amended substitute but recessed for further stakeholder negotiation.
Senate Bill 81, the Care Provider Abuse Modifications, drew extended committee discussion and stakeholder testimony about how to balance protections for vulnerable patients with the rights of adults to engage in consensual relationships.
Sponsor Senator Plumb said the bill aims to close a statutory gap: license-based professional sanctions can address relationships involving licensed clinicians, but nonlicensed employees (for example, kitchen staff, custodial employees or health-unit coordinators) were not covered by license-disciplinary systems. "This is a situation that should not be happening, consent or not, in a care type of setting," Plumb said, and she described casework that prompted the bill.
Concern from disability advocates: Danica…
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