HB 0321

CS

CHAMBER ACTION

1	The Committee on Health Care recommends the following:
2
3	Committee Substitute
4	Remove the entire bill and insert:
5	A bill to be entitled
6	An act relating to the Good Samaritan Act; amending s.
7	768.13, F.S.; including certain persons who participate in
8	emergency response activities under the direction of or in
9	connection with a community emergency response team, a
10	local emergency management agency, the Division of
11	Emergency Management of the Department of Community
12	Affairs, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency within
13	the act for purposes of immunity from civil liability
14	under certain circumstances; providing an effective date.
15
16	Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18	Section 1.  Subsection (2) of section 768.13, Florida
19	Statutes, is amended to read:
20	768.13  Good Samaritan Act; immunity from civil
21	liability.--
22	(2)(a)  Any person, including those licensed to practice
23	medicine, who gratuitously and in good faith renders emergency
24	care or treatment either in direct response to emergency
25	situations related to and arising out of a public health
26	emergency declared pursuant to s. 381.00315, a state of
27	emergency which has been declared pursuant to s. 252.36 or at
28	the scene of an emergency outside of a hospital, doctor's
29	office, or other place having proper medical equipment, without
30	objection of the injured victim or victims thereof, shall not be
31	held liable for any civil damages as a result of such care or
32	treatment or as a result of any act or failure to act in
33	providing or arranging further medical treatment where the
34	person acts as an ordinary reasonably prudent person would have
35	acted under the same or similar circumstances.
36	(b)1.  Any health care provider, including a hospital
37	licensed under chapter 395, providing emergency services
38	pursuant to obligations imposed by 42 U.S.C. s. 1395dd, s.
39	395.1041, s. 395.401, or s. 401.45 shall not be held liable for
40	any civil damages as a result of such medical care or treatment
41	unless such damages result from providing, or failing to
42	provide, medical care or treatment under circumstances
43	demonstrating a reckless disregard for the consequences so as to
44	affect the life or health of another.
45	2.  The immunity provided by this paragraph applies to
46	damages as a result of any act or omission of providing medical
47	care or treatment, including diagnosis:
48	a.  Which occurs prior to the time the patient is
49	stabilized and is capable of receiving medical treatment as a
50	nonemergency patient, unless surgery is required as a result of
51	the emergency within a reasonable time after the patient is
52	stabilized, in which case the immunity provided by this
53	paragraph applies to any act or omission of providing medical
54	care or treatment which occurs prior to the stabilization of the
55	patient following the surgery.
56	b.  Which is related to the original medical emergency.
57	3.  For purposes of this paragraph, "reckless disregard" as
58	it applies to a given health care provider rendering emergency
59	medical services shall be such conduct that a health care
60	provider knew or should have known, at the time such services
61	were rendered, created an unreasonable risk of injury so as to
62	affect the life or health of another, and such risk was
63	substantially greater than that which is necessary to make the
64	conduct negligent.
65	4.  Every emergency care facility granted immunity under
66	this paragraph shall accept and treat all emergency care
67	patients within the operational capacity of such facility
68	without regard to ability to pay, including patients transferred
69	from another emergency care facility or other health care
70	provider pursuant to Pub. L. No. 99-272, s. 9121. The failure of
71	an emergency care facility to comply with this subparagraph
72	constitutes grounds for the department to initiate disciplinary
73	action against the facility pursuant to chapter 395.
74	(c)1.  Any health care practitioner as defined in s.
75	456.001(4) who is in a hospital attending to a patient of his or
76	her practice or for business or personal reasons unrelated to
77	direct patient care, and who voluntarily responds to provide
78	care or treatment to a patient with whom at that time the
79	practitioner does not have a then-existing health care patient-
80	practitioner relationship, and when such care or treatment is
81	necessitated by a sudden or unexpected situation or by an
82	occurrence that demands immediate medical attention, shall not
83	be held liable for any civil damages as a result of any act or
84	omission relative to that care or treatment, unless that care or
85	treatment is proven to amount to conduct that is willful and
86	wanton and would likely result in injury so as to affect the
87	life or health of another.
88	2.  The immunity provided by this paragraph does not apply
89	to damages as a result of any act or omission of providing
90	medical care or treatment unrelated to the original situation
91	that demanded immediate medical attention.
92	3.  For purposes of this paragraph, the Legislature's
93	intent is to encourage health care practitioners to provide
94	necessary emergency care to all persons without fear of
95	litigation as described in this paragraph.
96	(d)  Any person who participates in emergency response
97	activities under the direction of or in connection with a
98	community emergency response team, a local emergency management
99	agency, the Division of Emergency Management of the Department
100	of Community Affairs, or the Federal Emergency Management Agency
101	is not liable for any civil damages as a result of care,
102	treatment, or services provided gratuitously in such capacity
103	and resulting from any act or failure to act in such capacity in
104	providing or arranging further care, treatment, or services, if
105	such person acts as a reasonably prudent person would have acted
106	under the same or similar circumstances.
107	Section 2.  This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.

CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.