House Bill hb1403c1

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    Florida House of Representatives - 2001             CS/HB 1403

        By the Council for Healthy Communities and Representatives
    Mealor and Kravitz





  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to health care; amending s.

  3         456.031, F.S.; providing an alternative by

  4         which licensees may comply with a general

  5         requirement that they take domestic violence

  6         education courses; amending s. 456.033, F.S.;

  7         providing an alternative by which licensees may

  8         comply with a general requirement that they

  9         take AIDS/HIV education courses; amending ss.

10         458.319, 459.008, and 765.102, F.S.; conforming

11         terminology relating to palliative care;

12         amending s. 765.101, F.S.; redefining the term

13         "end-stage condition" with respect to health

14         care advance directives; creating s. 765.1025,

15         F.S.; prescribing the content and suitability

16         of palliative care; amending s. 765.1103, F.S.;

17         requiring specified health care providers,

18         health care practitioners, and health care

19         facilities to comply with patient requests for

20         pain management and palliative care; amending

21         s. 765.205, F.S.; prescribing the standards of

22         decisionmaking to be used in certain

23         circumstances by health care surrogates,

24         persons who have durable powers of attorney for

25         health care, and proxy decisionmakers; amending

26         s. 765.401, F.S.; prescribing the standards of

27         decisionmaking to be used in certain

28         circumstances by proxy decisionmakers;

29         providing an effective date.

30

31  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

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  1         Section 1.  Subsection (3) of section 456.031, Florida

  2  Statutes, is amended to read:

  3         456.031  Requirement for instruction on domestic

  4  violence.--

  5         (3)(a)  In lieu of completing a course as required in

  6  subsection (1), a licensee or certificateholder may complete a

  7  course in end-of-life care and palliative health care, if the

  8  licensee or certificateholder has completed an approved

  9  domestic violence course in the immediately preceding

10  biennium.

11         (b)  In lieu of completing a course as required by

12  subsection (1), a person licensed under chapter 466, who has

13  completed an approved domestic violence education course in

14  the immediately preceding 2 years may complete a course

15  approved by the Board of Dentistry.

16         Section 2.  Subsection (9) of section 456.033, Florida

17  Statutes, is amended to read:

18         456.033  Requirement for instruction for certain

19  licensees on human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune

20  deficiency syndrome.--

21         (9)(a)  In lieu of completing a course as required in

22  subsection (1), the licensee may complete a course in

23  end-of-life care and palliative health care, so long as the

24  licensee completed an approved AIDS/HIV course in the

25  immediately preceding biennium.

26         (b)  In lieu of completing a course as required by

27  subsection (1), a person licensed under chapter 466 who has

28  completed an approved AIDS/HIV course in the immediately

29  preceding 2 years may complete a course approved by the Board

30  of Dentistry.

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  1         Section 3.  Subsection (4) of section 458.319, Florida

  2  Statutes, is amended to read:

  3         458.319  Renewal of license.--

  4         (4)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 456.033, a

  5  physician may complete continuing education on end-of-life

  6  care and palliative health care in lieu of continuing

  7  education in AIDS/HIV, if that physician has completed the

  8  AIDS/HIV continuing education in the immediately preceding

  9  biennium.

10         Section 4.  Subsection (5) of section 459.008, Florida

11  Statutes, is amended to read:

12         459.008  Renewal of licenses and certificates.--

13         (5)  Notwithstanding the provisions of s. 456.033, an

14  osteopathic physician may complete continuing education on

15  end-of-life and palliative health care in lieu of continuing

16  education in AIDS/HIV, if that physician has completed the

17  AIDS/HIV continuing education in the immediately preceding

18  biennium.

19         Section 5.  Subsection (4) of section 765.101, Florida

20  Statutes, is amended to read:

21         765.101  Definitions.--As used in this chapter:

22         (4)  "End-stage condition" means a condition that is

23  caused by injury, disease, or illness which has resulted in

24  progressively severe and permanent deterioration, indicated by

25  incapacity and complete physical dependency, and for which the

26  patient or resident, or his or her authorized representative,

27  would consider life-prolonging treatment to be more of a

28  burden than a benefit, to a reasonable degree of medical

29  certainty, treatment of the irreversible condition would be

30  medically ineffective.

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  1         Section 6.  Subsection (4) of section 765.102, Florida

  2  Statutes, is amended to read:

  3         765.102  Legislative findings and intent.--

  4         (4)  The Legislature recognizes the need for all health

  5  care professionals to rapidly increase their understanding of

  6  end-of-life and palliative health care. Therefore, the

  7  Legislature encourages the professional regulatory boards to

  8  adopt appropriate standards and guidelines regarding

  9  end-of-life care and pain management and encourages

10  educational institutions established to train health care

11  professionals and allied health professionals to implement

12  curricula to train such professionals to provide end-of-life

13  care, including pain management and palliative care.

14         Section 7.  Section 765.1025, Florida Statutes, is

15  created to read:

16         765.1025  Palliative care.--For purposes of this

17  chapter:

18         (1)  Palliative care is the comprehensive management of

19  the physical, psychological, social, spiritual, and

20  existential needs of patients. Palliative care is especially

21  suited to the care of persons who have incurable, progressive

22  illness.

23         (2)  Palliative care must include:

24         (a)  An opportunity to discuss and plan for end-of-life

25  care.

26         (b)  Assurance that physical and mental suffering will

27  be carefully attended to.

28         (c)  Assurance that preferences for withholding and

29  withdrawing life-sustaining interventions will be honored.

30         (d)  Assurance that the personal goals of the dying

31  person will be addressed.

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  1         (e)  Assurance that the dignity of the dying person

  2  will be a priority.

  3         (f)  Assurance that health care providers will not

  4  abandon the dying person.

  5         (g)  Assurance that the burden to family and others

  6  will be addressed.

  7         (h)  Assurance that advance directives for care will be

  8  respected regardless of the location of care.

  9         (i)  Assurance that organizational mechanisms are in

10  place to evaluate the availability and quality of end-of-life

11  and palliative care services, including the removal of

12  administrative and regulatory barriers.

13         (j)  Assurance that necessary health care services will

14  be provided and that relevant reimbursement policies are

15  available.

16         (k)  Assurance that the goals expressed in paragraphs

17  (a)-(j) will be accomplished in a culturally appropriate

18  manner.

19         Section 8.  Subsection (2) of section 765.1103, Florida

20  Statutes, is amended to read:

21         765.1103  Pain management and palliative care.--

22         (2)  Health care providers and practitioners regulated

23  under chapter 458, chapter 459, or chapter 464 must, as

24  appropriate, comply with a request for pain management or

25  palliative care from a patient under their care or, for an

26  incapacitated patient under their care, from a surrogate,

27  proxy, guardian, or other representative permitted to make

28  health care decisions for the incapacitated patient.

29  Facilities regulated under chapter 400 or chapter 395 must

30  comply with the pain management or palliative care measures

31  ordered by the patient's physician. When the patient is

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  1  receiving care as an admitted patient of a facility or a

  2  provider or is a subscriber of a health care facility, health

  3  care provider, or health care practitioner regulated under

  4  chapter 395, chapter 400, chapter 458, chapter 459, chapter

  5  464, or chapter 641, such facility, provider, or practitioner

  6  must, when appropriate, comply with a request for pain

  7  management or palliative care from a capacitated patient or an

  8  incapacitated patient's health care surrogate or proxy,

  9  court-appointed guardian as provided in chapter 744, or

10  attorney in fact as provided in chapter 709. The

11  court-appointed guardian or attorney in fact must have been

12  delegated authority to make health care decisions on behalf of

13  the patient.

14         Section 9.  Paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section

15  765.205, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:

16         765.205  Responsibility of the surrogate.--

17         (1)  The surrogate, in accordance with the principal's

18  instructions, unless such authority has been expressly limited

19  by the principal, shall:

20         (b)  Consult expeditiously with appropriate health care

21  providers to provide informed consent, and make only health

22  care decisions for the principal which he or she believes the

23  principal would have made under the circumstances if the

24  principal were capable of making such decisions. This

25  substituted-judgment standard is the preferred standard of

26  decisionmaking to be used by health care surrogates, persons

27  who have durable powers of attorney for health care, and proxy

28  decisionmakers. However, if there is no indication of what the

29  principal would have chosen, the surrogate, the person who has

30  the durable power of attorney for health care, or the proxy

31  decisionmaker may use a best-interest standard in deciding

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  1  that proposed treatments are to be withheld or that treatments

  2  currently in effect are to be withdrawn.

  3         Section 10.  Subsections (2) and (3) of section

  4  765.401, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:

  5         765.401  The proxy.--

  6         (2)  Any health care decision made under this part must

  7  be based on the proxy's informed consent and on the decision

  8  the proxy reasonably believes the patient would have made

  9  under the circumstances. This substituted-judgment standard is

10  the preferred standard of decisionmaking to be used by a

11  proxy. However, if there is no indication of what the patient

12  would have chosen, the proxy may use a best-interest standard

13  in deciding that proposed treatments are to be withheld or

14  that treatments currently in effect are to be withdrawn.

15         (3)  Before exercising the incapacitated patient's

16  rights to select or decline health care, the proxy must comply

17  with the provisions of ss. 765.205 and 765.305, except that a

18  proxy's decision to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging

19  procedures must be supported by clear and convincing evidence

20  that the decision would have been the one the patient would

21  have chosen had the patient been competent or, if there is no

22  indication of what the patient would have chosen, that the

23  decision is in the patient's best interest.

24         Section 11.  This act shall take effect July 1, 2001.

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