Under the bill, a surgical patient may complete an advance request for recording, which permits an individual who is of sound mind and over the age of 18 to request video recording for future surgical procedures. The individual may complete an advance request for a single specific surgical procedure or set of discharge instructions, or for all future surgical procedures and discharge instructions to which provisions of the bill would apply. An advance request must be completed voluntarily, and must be in writing and signed and dated in the presence of a witness over the age of 18. The advance request may be revoked at any time.
The bill provides that a health care provider who knowingly refuses to comply with a patient request for recording is subject to a forfeiture of up to $25,000 for each violation. A surgical facility that fails to provide a required notice of the option for recording, including information regarding the procedures, the fees, the conditions, the surgical practitioner’s request option, and the advance request option, is subject to a forfeiture of up to $25,000 for each violation. The bill also provides penalties for interference with an advance request for recording, and for unauthorized disclosure of a recording.
Under this bill, the Department of Health Services is required to promulgate rules establishing standards relating to the recording equipment and the recording. DHS may promulgate additional rules as necessary to implement and administer the provisions of the bill. The bill also allows DHS to grant limited extensions for compliance with the requirements of the bill, if a facility provides evidence of a compelling need, financial or otherwise.
Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report.
For further information see the state fiscal estimate, which will be printed as an appendix to this bill.
AB870,,44The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows: AB870,15Section 1. 50.373 of the statutes is created to read: AB870,,6650.373 Video recording of surgical procedures. (1) Definitions. In this section: AB870,,77(a) “Conscious sedation” is a drug-induced depression of consciousness during which a patient responds purposefully to verbal commands, either alone or accompanied by light tactile stimulation. AB870,,88(b) “Deep sedation” is a drug-induced depression of consciousness during which a patient cannot be easily aroused but responds purposefully following repeated or painful stimulation. AB870,,99(c) “Discharge instructions” means care instructions provided to a patient at or near the time of a patient’s exit or release from a surgical facility after a surgical procedure. AB870,,1010(d) “General anesthesia” means a temporary status commonly produced by the administration of certain intravenous drugs and inhaled gases that cause a patient to be unconscious and unable to feel pain during a medical procedure. AB870,,1111(e) “Guardian” means the person named by the court having the duty and authority of guardianship. AB870,,1212(f) “Health care provider” means a person or entity described under s. 146.81 (1) (a) to (p) and includes any surgical facility. AB870,,1313(g) “Incapacitated” means unable to receive and evaluate information effectively or to communicate decisions to such an extent that an individual lacks the capacity to manage his or her health care decisions. AB870,,1414(h) “Legal custodian” means a person, other than a parent or guardian, or an agency to whom legal custody of a child has been transferred by a court, but does not include a person who has only physical custody of the child. AB870,,1515(i) “Patient health care records” has the meaning given in s. 146.81 (4). AB870,,1616(j) “Regional anesthesia” means the use of local anesthetics to make a specific part of the body numb to prevent pain and allow for completion of a surgical procedure. AB870,,1717(k) “Surgical facility” means a hospital, as defined in s. 50.33 (2), an ambulatory surgical center, as defined in 42 CFR 416.2, or any other place where a surgical procedure is performed. AB870,,1818(L) “Surgical patient” means a patient who is scheduled to undergo a surgical procedure. AB870,,1919(m) “Surgical practitioner” means a physician, surgeon, or osteopath under s. 990.01 (28), an individual licensed to practice dentistry under ch. 447, and any other individual who holds a valid license or other credential that allows him or her to perform a surgical procedure. AB870,,2020(n) “Surgical procedure” means a surgical procedure for which a patient is under conscious sedation, deep sedation, regional anesthesia, or general anesthesia. “Surgical procedure” includes a colonoscopy or similarly invasive procedure if performed under conscious sedation, deep sedation, regional anesthesia, or general anesthesia. AB870,,2121(o) “Surgical time out” means a final verification of details relating to a surgery, including at least confirmation of a surgical patient’s identity, surgical site, and planned procedure. AB870,,2222(2) Option for recording. (a) 1. A surgical facility shall provide to a surgical patient the option to have the surgical facility or the surgical facility’s designee make a video recording of the patient’s surgical procedure. For purposes of any recording of a surgical procedure made under this subdivision, the surgical facility or its designee shall make a continuous color video recording, including both audio and video and display of the time and date. The surgical facility or its designee may not interrupt the video recording within the surgical suite once started. Separate interactions outside of the surgical suite, including preoperative communications and surgical time outs under subd. 2., if outside of the surgical suite, and discharge instructions under subd. 3., if applicable, may be separately recorded. All areas of the surgical suite, including entrances and exits, must be in view on the recording and audible. The surgical facility or its designee shall begin the recording within the surgical suite of a surgical procedure under this subdivision when preparation of the surgical suite for that surgical patient’s surgical procedure starts and continue the recording through the period of the cleanup after that procedure and until all activity in the surgical suite related to the procedure recorded is complete. AB870,,23232. Any procedure recording made under this subsection shall include a recording, conforming to the standards described in subd. 1., of any preoperative communication regarding the surgical procedure between the surgical practitioner and the surgical patient and any surgical time out, regardless of where the preoperative communication or surgical time out takes place. AB870,,24243. A surgical facility shall also provide to a surgical patient the option to have his or her discharge instructions, as given by the patient’s surgical practitioner or other health care provider, recorded. If a patient chooses to have his or her discharge instructions recorded, the recording may be audio only or videotaped, including audio, at the option of the surgical facility. AB870,,2525(b) 1. A surgical facility shall notify a surgical patient of the option to have a recording made under par. (a) and of the procedures, the fees, the conditions, the surgical practitioner’s request option, and the advance request option. AB870,,26262. If the surgical patient is a minor child, the surgical facility shall notify the minor child’s parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the option to have a recording made under par. (a) and of the procedures, the fees, the conditions, the surgical practitioner’s request option, and the advance request option.