bill on rights of conscience in health care

The text as introduced · 1,651 words

89R8421 SRA-D

By: Oliverson
H.B. No. 2816

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

relating to protection of the rights of conscience of persons from

providing and health care facilities from offering certain health

care services; providing a civil remedy; authorizing disciplinary

action.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that:

(1) the public policy of this state is to respect the

conscience of all physicians and health care providers and the

right of each physician and health care provider to hold their own

belief about whether certain health care services are morally

acceptable;

(2) without comprehensive protections, the rights of

conscience of physicians, health care providers, and health care

facilities may be violated; and

(3) each physician and health care provider must be

protected from required participation in and each health care

facility must be protected from required provision of a health care

service the physician, provider, or facility for rights of

conscience has declined participation in or provision of and from

discriminatory adverse action resulting from the nonparticipation

or non-provision.

SECTION 2. Chapter 161, Health and Safety Code, is amended

by adding Subchapter Z to read as follows:

SUBCHAPTER Z. TEXAS HEALTH CARE CONSCIENCE PROTECTION ACT

Sec. 161.751. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter:

(1) "Conscience" means a sincerely held set of

religious or philosophical moral convictions.

(2) "Health care facility" means a public or private

organization, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship,

association, agency, network, joint venture, or other entity that

provides health care services to patients. The term includes a

hospital, clinic, medical center, ambulatory surgical center,

private physician's office, pharmacy, nursing home, laboratory or

diagnostic facility, infirmary, dispensary, medical school,

nursing school, pharmacy school, or medical training facility.

(3) "Health care provider" means a nurse, nurse aide,

medical assistant, hospital employee, allied health professional,

counselor, therapist, laboratory technician, clinic employee,

nursing home employee, pharmacist, pharmacy employee, researcher,

medical, pharmacy, or nursing school student, professional,

paraprofessional, or, without regard to whether the person holds a

license, any other person who furnishes or assists in the

furnishing of a health care service.

(4) "Health care service" means any phase of patient

medical care or treatment. The term includes:

(A) examination, testing, diagnosis, referral,

prognosis, dispensing or administering a drug or device, ancillary

research, instruction, therapy, treatment, and preparing for or

performing a surgery or procedure;

(B) family planning, counseling, and referrals,

and any other advice in connection with the use or procurement of

contraceptives, sterilization, or abortion; and

(C) record-making procedures, preparation of

treatment notes, and any other care or treatment rendered by a

physician, health care provider, or health care facility.

(5) "Physician" means an individual licensed to

practice medicine in this state.

Sec. 161.752. RIGHT TO DECLINE PARTICIPATION IN OR OFFER

HEALTH CARE SERVICE; CONSTRUCTION OF SUBCHAPTER. (a) Except as

provided by Subsection (b):

(1) a person may decline to participate in a health

care service for reasons of conscience; and

(2) a health care facility may decline to offer a

health care service consistent with the facility's established

beliefs and rights of conscience.

(b) A person may not decline to participate in and a health

care facility may not decline to offer the following services:

(1) emergency medical treatment required by 42 U.S.C.

Section 1395dd; or

(2) except as provided by Chapter 166, life-sustaining

treatment.

(c) Nothing in this subchapter may be construed to:

(1) supersede Chapter 166 governing the provision,

withholding, or withdrawing of life-sustaining treatment;

(2) apply to emergency medical treatment required by

42 U.S.C. Section 1395dd, life-sustaining treatment, or

cardiopulmonary resuscitation; or

(3) prevent a health care provider, health care

facility, or health care payer that holds itself out to the public

as religious, includes in its governing documents a statement of

its religious purpose or mission, and has internal operating

policies or procedures to implement its religious beliefs, from

making employment, staffing, contracting, or admitting privilege

decisions consistent with those religious beliefs.

(d) An exercise of the rights of conscience under this

section is limited to a person's right to refuse to participate in

or a health care facility's right to refuse to offer a specific

health care service.

Sec. 161.753. IMMUNITY OF PHYSICIANS, HEALTH CARE

PROVIDERS, AND HEALTH CARE FACILITIES. A physician, health care

provider, or health care facility may not be held civilly or

criminally liable because the physician or provider declines to

participate in or the facility declines to offer a health care

service wholly or partly for rights of conscience.

Sec. 161.754. ADVERSE ACTION. (a) A person, including a

health care facility, a political subdivision of this state, the

Texas Medical Board or another agency of this state, or a medical

school or other institution that conducts education or training

programs for health care providers violates this subchapter by

taking an adverse action against another person or health care

facility because the other person or health care facility:

(1) declines to participate in or offer a health care

service for reasons of conscience;

(2) testifies, assists, or participates in or is

preparing to testify, assist, or participate in a proceeding to

present information about any act or omission that the person

reasonably believes relates to a violation of this subchapter; or

(3) provides, causes to be provided, or is preparing

to provide or cause to be provided information about any act or

omission that the person reasonably believes relates to a violation

of this subchapter to:

(A) the person's employer;

(B) the attorney general, the Health and Human

Services Commission, or any state agency charged with protecting

health care rights of conscience; or

(C) the United States Department of Health and

Human Services, the Office of Civil Rights of the United States

Department of State, or any other federal agency charged with

protecting health care rights of conscience.

(b) Violations under this section include discrimination

against or taking an adverse action with regard to:

(1) licensure;

(2) certification;

(3) employment terms, benefits, seniority status,

promotion, or transfer;

(4) staff appointments or other privileges;

(5) denial of admission or participation in a program

for which the other person or facility is otherwise eligible;

(6) reference to rights of conscience in an

application form for an educational or funding program;

(7) questions regarding an educational or funding

program applicant's participation in providing a health care

service for rights of conscience;

(8) imposition of a burden in the terms or conditions

of employment;

(9) denial of aid, assistance, or benefits;

(10) conditional receipt of the aid, assistance, or

benefits; or

(11) coercion or disqualification of the other person

or facility receiving aid, assistance, or benefits.

Sec. 161.755. PROTOCOL FOR DECLINING PARTICIPATION IN

PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE SERVICE. (a) A health care facility shall

develop a written protocol for circumstances in which a person for

reasons of conscience declines to participate in providing a health

care service, other than emergency medical treatment under 42

U.S.C. Section 1395dd or life-sustaining treatment described by

Chapter 166. The protocol must:

(1) assist the patient in accessing the requested

health care service by providing prompt transfer or release of

medical records the patient requests; and

(2) state the person remains responsible for providing

all other appropriate health care services to the patient other

than the specific health care service for which the person declines

participation for reasons of conscience.

(b) A person who for reasons of conscience declines

participation in provision of a health care service shall:

(1) notify the health care facility of the

declination; and

(2) comply with the applicable protocol developed

under this section.

(c) This section does not permit a protocol developed under

this section regarding a health care service that is contrary to the

conscience of a physician or health care provider to require a

physician, health care provider, or health care facility to counsel

a patient or refer the patient or facilitate the referral of the

patient to another physician, provider, or facility.

Sec. 161.756. DISCIPLINARY ACTION; COMPLAINT. (a) A

physician, health care provider, or health care facility that holds

a license issued by a licensing agency in this state is subject to

review and disciplinary action by the licensing agency for a

violation of this subchapter as if the physician, provider, or

facility violated the applicable licensing law.

(b) A person who is injured by a violation of this

subchapter may file a complaint with the licensing agency that

issued a license to the physician, health care provider, or health

care facility that allegedly violated this subchapter.

(c) A physician or health care provider may not file a

complaint with the appropriate licensing agency under this section

unless the physician or health care provider complies with the

health care facility's protocol developed under Section 161.755.

Sec. 161.757. CIVIL REMEDIES. (a) A person or health care

facility that is injured by a violation of this subchapter may bring

a civil action against another person, entity, or political

subdivision of this state that violates this subchapter. A person

or facility that brings an action under this section may obtain:

(1) injunctive relief;

(2) damages incurred by the person or facility,

including:

(A) actual damages for all psychological,

emotional, and physical injuries resulting from the violation of

this subchapter, as applicable;

(B) court costs; and

(C) reasonable attorney's fees; or

(3) both injunctive relief and damages.

(b) Governmental immunity is waived and abolished to the

extent of liability under this section.

SECTION 3. Not later than December 1, 2025, a health care

facility, as that term is defined by Section 161.751, Health and

Safety Code, as added by this Act, shall adopt protocols required by

Section 161.755, Health and Safety Code, as added by this Act.

SECTION 4. Section 161.753, Health and Safety Code, as

added by this Act, applies only to a cause of action that accrues on

or after the effective date of this Act.

SECTION 5. This Act takes effect September 1, 2025.