SB169: Bill Text

SB169,7,6 (e) The feasible alternatives to taking the medication to be prescribed, including comfort care, hospice care, and pain control.

SB169,7,8 (3) Refer the requester to a consulting physician to meet the requirements of s. 156.09.

SB169,7,10 (4) Refer the requester for review and counseling if the referral is determined to be appropriate under s. 156.11.

SB169,7,11 (5) Ask the requester to notify his or her next of kin with respect to the request.

SB169,7,15 (6) Inform the requester that he or she may revoke the request at any time; explain the methods of revocation that are specified under s. 156.17 (1); and offer the requester an opportunity to revoke the request at the time, if any, that the requester makes a 2nd oral request under s. 156.13 (3) (c).

SB169,7,17 (7) Before writing a prescription in response to a request for medication, verify that all of the following have occurred:

SB169,7,18 (a) The requester has fulfilled the requirements of s. 156.13 (3).

SB169,7,20 (b) No fewer than 48 hours have elapsed since the requester made a written request for medication.

SB169,7,21 (c) The requester has made an informed decision.

SB169,7,23 (8) Document or file all of the following in the requester's patient health care record:

SB169,7,24 (a) All oral and written requests for medication that are made by the requester.

SB169,8,3 (b) The attending physician's diagnosis of and prognosis for the requester and determination as to whether the requester is incapacitated, is acting voluntarily, and has made an informed decision.

SB169,8,6 (c) The consulting physician's diagnosis of and prognosis for the requester and determination as to whether the requester is incapacitated, is acting voluntarily, and has made an informed decision.

SB169,8,8 (d) A certification of the outcome and determinations made during any review and counseling for which the requester was referred under s. 156.11.

SB169,8,10 (e) The attending physician's offer of an opportunity to revoke the request for medication, as required under sub. (6).

SB169,8,11 (f) Evidence of a revocation, if made, as specified in s. 156.17 (2).

SB169,8,22 (g) A certification as to whether the requirements of this chapter are met and indicating the steps taken to fulfill the request for medication, including a notation of any medication that is prescribed. The attending physician shall report the information under this paragraph to the department on a form prescribed by the department. Any information reported to the department under this paragraph that could identify the requester, the attending physician, the consulting physician, or the psychiatrist or psychologist to whom referral was made under s. 156.11, if any, is confidential and may not be disclosed by the department except under an investigation of an alleged violation of this chapter. The report of information under this paragraph is not a violation of any person's responsibility for maintaining the confidentiality of patient health care records under s. 146.82.

SB169,9,4 (9) If the attending physician refuses to act as the attending physician in complying with the requester's request for medication under 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 comply with 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.

SB169,9,10 156.09 Consulting physician. 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.

SB169,9,21 156.11 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). No request for medication may be fulfilled under this chapter unless the physician specializing in psychiatry or the psychologist, to one of 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 certification, if any, shall be filed in the requester's patient health care record under s. 156.07 (8).

SB169,9,24 156.13 Requester rights, responsibilities, and limitations. (1) No requester may receive a prescription for medication that fulfills a request for medication under this chapter unless he or she has made an informed decision.

SB169,10,3 (2) No requester may be required to notify his or her next of kin regarding his or her request for medication, and no request for medication may be denied because the requester has failed to notify his or her next of kin.

SB169,10,5 (3) To receive a prescription under a request for medication, a requester shall do all of the following:

SB169,10,7 (a) Orally request his or her attending physician for medication for the purpose of ending his or her life.

SB169,10,9 (b) No fewer than 15 days after making the oral request under par. (a), make a request for medication that meets the requirements of s. 156.05.

SB169,10,12 (c) After making a request for medication under par. (b), make a 2nd oral request of his or her attending physician for medication for the purpose of ending his or her life.

SB169,10,22 156.15 Request for medication; form. The department shall prepare and provide copies of a request for medication and accompanying information for distribution in quantities to health care providers, hospitals, nursing homes, multipurpose senior centers, county clerks, local bar associations, and, individually, private persons. The department shall include, in information accompanying the copy of the request for medication, at least the statutory definitions of terms used in the request for medication, statutory restrictions on who may be witnesses to a valid request for medication, and a statement explaining that valid witnesses acting in good faith are statutorily immune from civil or criminal liability. The request for medication distributed by the department shall be in the following form:

SB169,10,23 REQUEST FOR MEDICATION

SB169,10,24 TO END MY LIFE IN A HUMANE

SB169,10,25 AND DIGNIFIED MANNER

SB169,11,1 I, ...., am an adult of sound mind and am a resident of Wisconsin.

SB169,11,4 I am suffering from ...., which my attending physician has determined is a terminal disease and the terminality of which has been medically confirmed by a consulting physician.

SB169,11,7 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.

SB169,11,9 I request that my attending physician prescribe medication that will end my life in a humane and dignified manner.

SB169,11,10 INITIAL ONE OF THE FOLLOWING 3 STATEMENTS:

SB169,11,12 .... I have informed my family members of my decision and have taken their opinions into consideration.

SB169,11,13 .... I have decided not to inform my family of my decision.

SB169,11,14 .... I have no family to inform of my decision.

SB169,11,15 I understand that I have the right to revoke this request at any time.

SB169,11,17 I understand the full import of this request, and I expect to die when I take the medication to be prescribed.

SB169,11,19 I make this request voluntarily and without reservation, and I accept full moral responsibility for my actions.

SB169,11,20 Signed: ....

SB169,11,21 Dated: ....

SB169,11,22 Statement and signatures

SB169,11,23 of witnesses

SB169,12,8 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 an individual and is serving the requester at this time, an employee of a health care provider who is serving the requester at this time, 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.

SB169,12,9 Witness No. 1:

SB169,12,10 (print) Name: ....

SB169,12,11 Address: ....

SB169,12,12 Signature: ....

SB169,12,13 Witness No. 2:

SB169,12,14 (print) Name: ....

SB169,12,15 Address: ....

SB169,12,16 Signature: ....

SB169,12,17 Witness No. 3:

SB169,12,18 (print) Name: ....

SB169,12,19 Address: ....

SB169,12,20 Signature: ....

SB169,12,24 If the requester is a patient in a health care facility, at least one of the above witnesses must be a patients' advocate designated by the board on aging and long-term care. A patients' advocate who is a witness should print "patients' advocate" after the printing of his or her name above.

SB169,13,2 156.17 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:

SB169,13,5 (a) Canceling, defacing, obliterating, burning, tearing, or otherwise destroying the request for medication or directing another in the presence of the requester to destroy, in the same manner, the request for medication.

SB169,13,7 (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.

SB169,13,9 (c) Orally expressing the requester's intent to revoke the request for medication, in the presence of 2 witnesses.

SB169,13,10 (d) Making a subsequent request for medication.

SB169,13,14 (2) The requester's 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.

SB169,13,21 156.19 Designation of patients' advocates. The board on aging and long-term care shall designate staff of the long-term care ombudsman program as patients' advocates. A person so designated shall serve as a witness to a request for medication of a requester who is a patient or resident of a nursing home or community-based residential facility, as required under s. 156.05 (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.

SB169,13,25 156.21 Duties and immunities. (1) No health care provider that is not an individual and no health care facility may be held civilly liable and no health care provider who is an individual may be charged with a crime, held civilly liable, or charged with unprofessional conduct for any of the following:

SB169,14,5 (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.

SB169,14,7 (b) In the absence of actual knowledge of a revocation, fulfilling a request for medication that is in compliance with this chapter.

SB169,14,10 (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.

SB169,14,14 (2) In the absence of actual notice to the contrary, a health care facility or health care provider 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.

SB169,14,17 (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.

SB169,14,19 (b) Paragraph (a) does not apply to a person who acts as a witness in violation of s. 156.05 (2) (a).

SB169,14,23 156.23 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.

SB169,15,3 (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 the request for medication.

SB169,15,6 (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 living will that the requester may have executed.

SB169,15,10 (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.

SB169,15,12 (4) A request for medication that is in its original form or is a legible photocopy or electronic facsimile copy is presumed to be valid.

SB169,15,16 (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.

SB169,15,20 156.25 Record review. The department shall annually examine a sampling of patient health care records of requesters for whom medication was prescribed as requested under a request for medication and about whom the department has received information under s. 156.07 (8) (g).

SB169,15,24 156.27 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.

SB169,16,5 (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 (1) (a) or (b) shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned for not more than 10 years or both.

SB169,16,9 (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 imprisoned for not more than 10 years or both.

SB169, s. 4 Section 4. 979.01 (1) (intro.) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB169,16,16 979.01 (1) (intro.) All Except as provided in sub. (1t), 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, medical examiner, or coroner of the county where the death took place:

SB169, s. 5 Section 5. 979.01 (1t) of the statutes is created to read:

SB169,16,20 979.01 (1t) Subsection (1) does not apply to a death that results from taking medication under a fulfilled request for medication that is in accordance with the requirements of ch. 156.

SB169, s. 6 Section 6. Initial applicability.

SB169,17,2 (1) Requests for medication; penalties. The treatment of section 156.27 of the statutes first applies to requests for medication made under the requirements of chapter 156 of the statutes, as created by this act, on the effective date of this subsection.