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Committee prints ‘Medical Ethics Defense’ RS after sponsor frames measure as conscience protections for health workers
Summary
Representative Bruce Scogg introduced RS 31,973, the "Medical Ethics Defense Act," proposing legal protections for health-care professionals and entities that refuse to participate in nonemergency procedures that conflict with their moral or religious beliefs. The committee voted to print the RS for a full hearing.
Representative Bruce Scogg introduced RS 31,973, described in committee as the "Medical Ethics Defense Act," which the sponsor said would protect the conscience rights of health-care professionals and health-care entities by allowing them to refuse participation in certain nonemergency procedures that violate sincerely held beliefs. The House Health and Welfare Committee voted to introduce the RS for further consideration.
Scogg said the RS protects employees and employers from discrimination when a provider objects to participating in nonemergency procedures on moral or religious grounds and includes a cause of action for providers who claim discrimination. He told the committee that similar model legislation has been enacted in other states and said he had consulted stakeholders while drafting the RS.
During the introduction, members asked procedural and fiscal questions. Representative Ekberg asked how the bill’s cause of action might interact with state hospitals and whether potential litigation costs would be captured in the fiscal note; the sponsor said the committee’s fiscal process historically does not attempt to estimate speculative litigation costs and that litigation in other states had not been as extensive as critics predicted. Representative McCain asked whether the measure would require a provider to perform a procedure during an emergency; Scogg replied that the bill’s carve-out for emergencies would require necessary emergency care, and that employees who object are required to register objections in writing with their employer.
Representative Redmond moved to introduce RS 31,973; the motion carried and the RS was printed for a full hearing.
The RS, as introduced, does not identify a particular state statute to be amended in the hearing record; committee members requested opportunity to discuss language with an attorney the sponsor said would be made available prior to a full hearing. The measure will be scheduled for a committee hearing where affected stakeholders and fiscal staff can provide testimony and analysis.
