SF 2825

2nd Engrossment - 85th Legislature (2007 - 2008) Posted on 12/15/2009 12:00am

A bill for an act
relating to health; amending the Patient's Bill of Rights to include continuous
doula support and information about evidence-based nonpharmacological
pain relief; amending Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 144.651,
subdivision 9.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 144.651, subdivision 9,
is amended to read:

Subd. 9.

Information about treatment.

new text begin (a) new text end Patients and residents shall be given by
their physicians complete and current information concerning their diagnosis, treatment,
alternatives, risks, and prognosis as required by the physician's legal duty to disclose. This
information shall be in terms and language the patients or residents can reasonably be
expected to understand. Patients and residents may be accompanied by a family member
or other chosen representative, or both. This information shall include the likely medical
or major psychological results of the treatment and its alternatives. In cases where it is
medically inadvisable, as documented by the attending physician in a patient's or resident's
medical record, the information shall be given to the patient's or resident's guardian or
other person designated by the patient or resident as a representative. Individuals have the
right to refuse this information.

new text begin (b) new text end Every patient or resident suffering from any form of breast cancer shall be fully
informed, prior to or at the time of admission and during her stay, of all alternative
effective methods of treatment of which the treating physician is knowledgeable, including
surgical, radiological, or chemotherapeutic treatments or combinations of treatments and
the risks associated with each of those methods.

new text begin (c) Every patient receiving maternity care has the right to continuous support from a
doula of her choice, in addition to her family, during her stay at the facility, so long as the
doula performs doula services within an accepted scope of practice and standard of care.
new text end

new text begin (d) Maternity patients who chose a primary caregiver should receive as part of
their prenatal education information regarding all methods of pain relief, including
evidence-based nonpharmacological methods.
new text end