SB499: Bill Text

SB499,9,21 (9) If the attending physician refuses to fulfill the requester's request for medication that meets the requirements of this chapter, the attending physician shall make a good faith attempt to transfer the requester's care and treatment to another physician who will act as the attending physician under this chapter and will fulfill the requester's request for medication. If a transfer is made, the attending physician to whom the requester's care and treatment is transferred shall comply with the requirements of this section.

SB499,9,25 156.11 Consulting physician confirmation. Before an attending physician may fulfill a request for medication under this chapter, a consulting physician shall examine the requester and his or her relevant patient health care records and shall medically confirm the attending physician's determinations that the requester suffers from a terminal disease, does not have incapacity, is making a request for medication voluntarily, and has made an informed decision. The consulting physician shall complete a written report regarding his or her findings and provide it to the attending physician for filing in the requester's patient health care record in compliance with the certification requirement of s. 156.09 (8) (g).

SB499,10,17 156.13 Referral for review and counseling. If in the opinion of the attending physician or the consulting physician a requester may be suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder, including depression, that causes impaired judgment, the attending physician or consulting physician shall refer the requester for review and counseling to a physician specializing in psychiatry or a licensed psychologist, as defined in s. 455.01 (4). If a referral is made by the attending or consulting physician, no request for medication may be fulfilled under this chapter unless the physician specializing in psychiatry, or the psychologist, to whom referral was made, determines and certifies in writing that the requester is not suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder, including depression, that causes impaired judgment. The attending physician shall file the certification in the requester's patient health care record under s. 156.09 (8) (d).

SB499,11,4 156.15 Written request for medication; form. The department shall prepare and provide copies of a request for medication authorization form and accompanying information for distribution in quantities to health care providers, hospitals, nursing homes, multipurpose senior centers, county clerks, and local bar associations and individually to private persons. The department shall include, in information accompanying the copy of the request for medication authorization form, at least the statutory definitions of terms used in the request for medication authorization form, statutory restrictions on who may be witnesses to a valid request for medication under s. 156.07, and a statement explaining that valid witnesses acting in good faith are statutorily immune from civil or criminal liability. The request for medication authorization form distributed by the department shall be in the following form:

SB499,11,5 REQUEST FOR MEDICATION

SB499,11,6 AUTHORIZATION TO END MY LIFE IN A

SB499,11,7 HUMANE AND DIGNIFIED MANNER

SB499,11,9 I, .... (insert name), am an adult of sound mind, do not have incapacity, and am a resident of Wisconsin.

SB499,11,12 I am suffering from .... (insert description of terminal disease), which my attending physician has determined is a terminal disease and which has been medically confirmed by a consulting physician.

SB499,11,15 I have been fully informed of my diagnosis, prognosis, the nature of medication to be prescribed and potential associated risks, the expected result, and the feasible alternatives, including comfort care, hospice care, and pain control.

SB499,11,17 I request that my attending physician prescribe medication that will end my life in a humane and dignified manner.

SB499,11,18 INITIAL ONE OF THE FOLLOWING 3 STATEMENTS:

SB499,11,20 .... I have informed my family members of my decision and taken their opinions into consideration.

SB499,11,21 .... I have decided not to inform my family of my decision.

SB499,11,22 .... I have no family to inform of my decision.

SB499,11,23 I understand that I have the right to revoke this request at any time.

SB499,11,25 I understand the full import of this request and I expect to die when I take the medication to be prescribed.

SB499,12,2 I make this request voluntarily and without reservation, and I accept full moral responsibility for my actions.

SB499,12,3 Signed: ....

SB499,12,4 Dated: ....

SB499,12,5 Statement and signatures

SB499,12,6 of witnesses

SB499,12,16 I know the requester personally or I have received proof of his or her identity and I believe him or her to be of sound mind and at least 18 years of age. I believe that the requester makes this request voluntarily. I am at least 18 years of age, am not related to the requester by blood, marriage, or adoption, and am not directly financially responsible for the requester's health care. I am not a health care provider who is serving the requester at this time; an employee of the health care provider, other than a chaplain or a social worker; or an employee, other than a chaplain or a social worker, of a health care facility in which the requester is a patient. To the best of my knowledge, I am not entitled to and do not have a claim on the requester's estate.

SB499,12,17 Witness No. 1:

SB499,12,18 (print) Name: ....

SB499,12,19 Address: ....

SB499,12,20 Signature: ....

SB499,12,21 Witness No. 2:

SB499,12,22 (print) Name: ....

SB499,12,23 Address: ....

SB499,12,24 Signature: ....

SB499,12,25 Witness No. 3:

SB499,13,1 (print) Name: ....

SB499,13,2 Address: ....

SB499,13,3 Signature: ....

SB499,13,7 If the requester is a resident of a nursing home or community-based residential facility, at least one of the above witnesses must be a residents' advocate designated by the board on aging and long-term care. A residents' advocate who is a witness should print “residents' advocate" after the printing of his or her name above.

SB499,13,9 156.17 Revocation of request for medication. (1) A requester may revoke his or her request for medication at any time by doing any of the following:

SB499,13,12 (a) Canceling, defacing, obliterating, burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the written request for medication or directing another in the presence of the requester to destroy, in the same manner, the request for medication.

SB499,13,14 (b) Executing a statement, in writing, that is signed and dated by the requester, expressing the requester's intent to revoke the request for medication.

SB499,13,16 (c) Orally expressing the requester's intent to revoke the request for medication, in the presence of 2 witnesses or the attending physician.

SB499,13,20 (2) A health care provider shall, upon notification of revocation of the requester's request for medication, record in the requester's medical record the time, date, and place of the revocation and the time, date, and place, if different, of the notification to the health care provider of the revocation.

SB499,14,2 156.19 Designation of residents' advocates. The board on aging and long-term care shall designate staff of the long-term care ombudsman program as residents' advocates. A person so designated shall serve as a witness to a request for medication of a requester who is a resident of a nursing home or community-based residential facility, as required under s. 156.07 (2) (b), and shall speak on behalf of the requester to ensure that his or her needs or wants are communicated to and addressed by his or her attending physician.

SB499,14,5 156.21 Duties and immunities. (1) No health care facility or health care provider may be charged with a crime, held civilly liable, or charged with unprofessional conduct for any of the following:

SB499,14,10 (a) Failing to fulfill a request for medication, except that failure of an attending physician to fulfill a request for medication constitutes unprofessional conduct if the attending physician refuses or fails to make a good faith attempt to transfer the requester's care and treatment to another physician who will act as attending physician under this chapter and fulfill the request for medication.

SB499,14,12 (b) In the absence of actual knowledge of a revocation, fulfilling a request for medication that is in compliance with this chapter.

SB499,14,15 (c) Acting contrary to or failing to act on a revocation of a request for medication, unless the health care facility or health care provider has actual knowledge of the revocation.

SB499,14,20 (2) In the absence of actual notice to the contrary, a health care facility or a health care provider, other than a physician acting as the requester's attending physician under this chapter, may presume that a requester was authorized to make his or her request for medication under the requirements of this chapter and that the request for medication is valid.

SB499,14,23 (3) (a) No person who acts in good faith as a witness to a request for medication under this chapter may be held civilly or criminally liable for a death that results from taking medication under a fulfilled request for medication under this chapter.

SB499,14,25 (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to a person who acts as a witness in violation of s. 156.07 (2) (a).

SB499,15,4 156.23 General provisions. (1) (a) The making of a request for medication under this chapter does not, for any purpose, constitute attempted suicide. Taking medication under a fulfilled request for medication under this chapter does not, for any purpose, constitute suicide.

SB499,15,7 (b) Paragraph (a) does not prohibit an insurer from making a determination that a requester has attempted suicide or committed suicide if the requester has so acted, apart from a request for medication.

SB499,15,10 (2) The making of a request for medication under this chapter does not revoke or otherwise modify a power of attorney for health care or declaration to physicians that the requester may have executed.

SB499,15,14 (3) No individual may be required to make a request for medication as a condition for receipt of health care or admission to a health care facility. The making of a request for medication is not a bar to the receipt of health care or the admission to a health care facility.

SB499,15,17 (4) A written request for medication that has not been revoked and that is in its original form or is a legible photocopy or electronic facsimile copy is presumed to be valid.

SB499,15,21 (5) Nothing in this chapter may be construed to condone, authorize, approve, or permit any affirmative or deliberate act to end life other than through taking medication that is prescribed under a request for medication as provided in this chapter.

SB499,15,25 156.25 Record review. The department shall annually examine a sampling of patient health care records of requesters for whom medication was prescribed in fulfillment of a request for medication and about whom the department has received information under s. 156.09 (8) (g).

SB499,16,4 156.27 Penalties. (1) Any person who willfully conceals, cancels, defaces, obliterates, or damages the request for medication of another without the requester's consent may be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned for not more than 30 days, or both.

SB499,16,9 (2) Any person who, with the intent to cause a requester to take medication that is prescribed under a request for medication contrary to the wishes of the requester, illegally falsifies or forges the request for medication of another or conceals a revocation under s. 156.17 shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.

SB499,16,14 (3) Any responsible person who, with the intent to cause a requester to take medication that is prescribed under a request for medication contrary to the wishes of the requester, conceals personal knowledge of a revocation under s. 156.17 shall be fined not more than $10,000 or, except for a health care facility, imprisoned for not more than 10 years, or both.

SB499,4 Section 4 . 979.01 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB499,16,22 979.01 (1) (intro.) All Except as provided in sub. (1j), all physicians, authorities of hospitals, sanatoriums, public and private institutions, convalescent homes, authorities of any institution of a like nature, and other persons having knowledge of the death of any person who has died under any of the following circumstances, shall immediately report the death to the sheriff, police chief, or and medical examiner or coroner of the county and to the police chief of any community where the death took place:

SB499,5 Section 5. 979.01 (1g) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB499,17,3 979.01 (1g) A sheriff or police chief shall, immediately upon notification under sub. (1) or s. 948.23 (1) (b) of a death, notify the coroner or the medical examiner, and the coroner or medical examiner of the county where death took place, if the crime, injury, or event occurred in another county, shall immediately report the death to the coroner or medical examiner of that county.

SB499,6 Section 6 . 979.01 (1j) of the statutes is created to read:

SB499,17,7 979.01 (1j) Subsection (1) does not apply to a death that results from taking medication under a fulfilled request for medication that meets the requirements of ch. 156.

SB499,7 Section 7. 979.01 (1r) of the statutes is repealed.

SB499,17,9 (End)