SF 4131

as introduced - 93rd Legislature (2023 - 2024) Posted on 02/23/2024 10:02am

A bill for an act
relating to health; modifying Safe Place for Newborns provisions; amending
Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 145.902, subdivisions 1, 3.

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

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 145.902, subdivision 1, is amended to read:

Subdivision 1.

General.

(a) For purposes of this section, a "safe place" means:

(1) a hospital licensed under sections 144.50 to 144.56,;

(2) a fire station that is staffed continuously, 24 hours per day, except when all staff are
called on in an emergency and when the dual alarm system dispatches the nearest first
responder to receive the infant as in any similar emergency;

(3) a health care provider who provides urgent care medical services, or;

(4) a newborn safety device installed by a safe place; or

(5) an ambulance service licensed under chapter 144E dispatched in response to a 911
call from a mother or a person with the mother's permission to relinquish a newborn infant.

(b) A safe place shall receive a newborn left with an employee on the premises of the
safe place during its hours of operation or in a newborn safety device, provided that:

(1) the newborn infant was born within seven days of being left at the safe place, as
determined within a reasonable degree of medical certainty; and

(2) the newborn infant is left in an unharmed condition.; and

(3) the newborn safety device:

(i) is designed to permit a parent to anonymously place a newborn infant in the device
with the intent to leave the newborn;

(ii) allows an emergency medical services provider to remove the newborn infant from
the device and take custody of the newborn infant;

(iii) is installed with an adequate dual alarm system connected to the physical location
where the device is physically installed, and the dual alarm system is tested at least one time
per month and visually checked at least two times per day to ensure the alarm system is in
working order; and

(iv) is approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration and is physically located
inside a participating fire station that is staffed 24 hours per day or a hospital that is licensed
and legally operating in the state and is staffed continuously on a 24-hour basis every day.
The safety device must be located in an area that is conspicuous and visible to the fire station
or hospital staff.

(c) The safe place must not inquire as to the identity of the mother or the person leaving
the newborn or call the police, provided the newborn is unharmed when presented to the
hospital. The safe place may ask the mother or the person leaving the newborn about the
medical history of the mother or newborn but the mother or the person leaving the newborn
is not required to provide any information. The safe place may provide the mother or the
person leaving the newborn with information about how to contact relevant social service
agencies. This information must be available for the relinquishing parent in the newborn
safety device.

(d) A safe place that is a health care provider who provides urgent care medical services
shall dial 911, advise the dispatcher that the call is being made from a safe place for
newborns, and ask the dispatcher to send an ambulance or take other appropriate action to
transport the newborn to a hospital. An ambulance with whom a newborn is left shall
transport the newborn to a hospital for care. Hospitals must receive a newborn left with a
safe place and make the report as required in subdivision 2.

Sec. 2.

Minnesota Statutes 2022, section 145.902, subdivision 3, is amended to read:

Subd. 3.

Immunity.

(a) A safe place with responsibility for performing duties under
this section, and any employee, doctor, ambulance personnel, or other medical professional
working at the safe place, are immune from any criminal liability that otherwise might result
from their actions, if they are acting in good faith in receiving a newborn, and are immune
from any civil liability that otherwise might result from merely receiving a newborn.

(b) A safe place performing duties under this section, or an employee, doctor, ambulance
personnel, or other medical professional working at the safe place who is a mandated reporter
under chapter 260E, is immune from any criminal or civil liability that otherwise might
result from the failure to make a report under that section if the person is acting in good
faith in complying with this section.

(c) No person shall be prosecuted for any crime based solely on the act of leaving a
newborn in compliance with this section.