Minnesota Session Laws - 1984, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1984 

                        CHAPTER 657-H.F.No. 229 
           An act relating to health; allowing any interested 
          person to seek enforcement of certain patient rights; 
          amending Minnesota Statutes 1983 Supplement, section 
          144.651, subdivision 1.  
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1983 Supplement, section 
144.651, subdivision 1, is amended to read:  
    Subdivision 1.  [LEGISLATIVE INTENT.] It is the intent of 
the legislature and the purpose of this section to promote the 
interests and well being of the patients and residents of health 
care facilities.  No health care facility may require a patient 
or resident to waive these rights as a condition of admission to 
the facility.  Any guardian or conservator of a patient or 
resident or, in the absence of a guardian or conservator, an 
interested person, may seek enforcement of these rights on 
behalf of a patient or resident.  An interested person may also 
seek enforcement of these rights on behalf of a patient or 
resident who has a guardian or conservator through 
administrative agencies or in probate court or county court 
having jurisdiction over guardianships and conservatorships. 
Pending the outcome of an enforcement proceeding the health care 
facility may, in good faith, comply with the instructions of a 
guardian or conservator.  It is the intent of this section that 
every patient's civil and religious liberties, including the 
right to independent personal decisions and knowledge of 
available choices, shall not be infringed and that the facility 
shall encourage and assist in the fullest possible exercise of 
these rights. 
    Approved May 7, 1984