Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Senate Bill SB733 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 SENATE BILL 733
5	5	November 21, 2023 - Introduced by Senators ROYS, L. JOHNSON, AGARD, CARPENTER,
6	6	HESSELBEIN, LARSON, PFAFF, SMITH, SPREITZER, TAYLOR and WIRCH, cosponsored
7	7	by Representatives HONG, J. ANDERSON, ANDRACA, CLANCY, CONLEY, CONSIDINE,
8	8	EMERSON, JACOBSON, JOERS, MADISON, MOORE OMOKUNDE, NEUBAUER, PALMERI,
9	9	RATCLIFF, SHELTON, SINICKI, STUBBS and SUBECK. Referred to Committee on
10	10	Judiciary and Public Safety.
11	11	AN ACT to create 146.893 of the statutes; relating to: medically accurate
12	12	information.
13	13	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
14	14	This bill creates a right and obligation for a health care provider to provide
15	15	medically accurate information to patients to whom the health care provider
16	16	provides medical care. The bill also creates a right for a patient to receive medically
17	17	accurate information from a health care provider. The bill prohibits any person,
18	18	including the state or any subdivision of the state, from interfering with or otherwise
19	19	diminishing the rights described under the bill related to medically accurate
20	20	information and from requiring in a procedure or treatment form information that
21	21	is not medically accurate. The bill further prohibits employment retribution based
22	22	upon a health care provider's exercise of the rights and obligations relating to the
23	23	provision of medically accurate information.
24	24	Under the bill, a patient or health care provider may file a civil action for a
25	25	violation related to the patient's right to accurate medical information. The bill
26	26	allows the person to seek, in addition to injunctive relief and punitive damages,
27	27	compensatory damages that reflect his or her actual damages or statutory damages
28	28	of $5,000 per violation.
29	29	A statutory damages option of $20,000 per violation is available to a health care
30	30	provider who files a civil action after experiencing employment retribution for his or
31	31	her provision of medical care, after being prevented from providing medically
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35	35	SENATE BILL 733
36	36	accurate information to a patient, or after being required to provide medically
37	37	inaccurate information to a patient.
38	38	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
39	39	enact as follows:
40	40	SECTION 1. 146.893 of the statutes is created to read:
41	41	146.893 Patient rights to medically accurate information. (1)
42	42	DEFINITIONS. In this section:
43	43	(a) “Health care provider” has the meaning given in s. 146.81 (1).
44	44	(b) “Leading professional medical organization” means an entity widely
45	45	regarded as the leading organization or association within its field serving a single
46	46	profession, or a specialty within a single profession, that possesses a primary
47	47	standing in that profession and requires of its members a significant amount of
48	48	education, training, or experience, or a license or certificate from a state or
49	49	authorized private authority to practice the profession or specialty.
50	50	(c) “Medically accurate information" means information relevant to informed
51	51	decision making verified or supported by the weight of peer-reviewed medical
52	52	research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods; recognized as
53	53	medically sound and objective by leading professional medical organizations with
54	54	relevant expertise, such as the American Medical Association, the American
55	55	Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health
56	56	Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of
57	57	Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of
58	58	Family Physicians, or by government agencies such as the federal centers for disease
59	59	control and prevention, the federal food and drug administration, the national
60	60	cancer institute, and the national institutes of health, or by scientific advisory groups
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84	84	SECTION 1
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86	86	including the Institute of Medicine and the Advisory Committee on Immunization
87	87	Practices; or recommended by or affirmed in the medical practice guidelines of a
88	88	nationally recognized accrediting organization.
89	89	(d) “Patient” has the meaning given in s. 146.81 (3).
90	90	(e) “Procedure or treatment form” means any information a patient receives
91	91	relating to giving consent to a procedure or treatment the patient may elect to
92	92	proceed with, whether in a brochure, a notice, a posting, an agreement, or other
93	93	document, provided in writing, electronically, or by video, without regard to whether
94	94	or not the communication requires a signature.
95	95	(f) “Scientific advisory group” means, in the context of providing medically
96	96	accurate information to patients, a group that is recognized as an authoritative
97	97	scientific source by the medical profession and consists of knowledgeable, prominent,
98	98	and credible members in their field of expertise and that offers opinions on health
99	99	matters.
100	100	(2) RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS. (a) A patient has the right to receive medically
101	101	accurate information from a health care provider providing medical care, including
102	102	medical investigation, examination, diagnosis, stabilization, consultation,
103	103	treatment, procedure, and referral.
104	104	(b) A health care provider has the right and obligation to provide medically
105	105	accurate information to patients to whom the health care provider provides medical
106	106	care and to make referrals for patients to other licensed health care providers.
107	107	(c) No person, including the state or any political subdivision of the state, may
108	108	interfere with or otherwise diminish the rights and obligations specified in par. (a)
109	109	or (b) or require in a procedure or treatment form information that is not medically
110	110	accurate.
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137	137	SECTION 1 SENATE BILL 733
138	138	(d) Employment retribution by any person against a health care provider based
139	139	on the health care provider's exercise of the rights and obligations specified in pars.
140	140	(a) and (b), or the health care provider's provision of medical care to a patient based
141	141	on such rights and obligations, is prohibited.
142	142	(e) Any person, including this state or any political subdivision or
143	143	instrumentality of this state, who violates this section shall be subject to the
144	144	remedies under sub. (3).
145	145	(f) Nothing in this section may be construed to alter existing professional
146	146	standards of care or abrogate the duty of a licensed health care provider to meet the
147	147	applicable standard of care.
148	148	(3) REMEDIES. (a) 1. A patient or health care provider claiming a violation of
149	149	the rights and obligations specified in sub. (2) and any associated claims under
150	150	common law may commence a civil action for relief under subd. 2.
151	151	2. In any action under subd. 1., the court may award appropriate relief,
152	152	including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief, and compensatory
153	153	and punitive damages. With respect to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may
154	154	elect, at any time prior to the rendering of final judgment, to recover an award of
155	155	statutory damages in the amount of $5,000 per violation in lieu of actual damages.
156	156	(b) 1. A health care provider claiming a violation of sub. (2) (d) may commence
157	157	a civil action for relief under subd. 2.
158	158	2. In any action under subd. 1., the court may award appropriate relief,
159	159	including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief; back pay or
160	160	reinstatement or other privileges; and compensatory and punitive damages. With
161	161	respect to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may elect, at any time before the
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188	188	SECTION 1
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190	190	rendering of final judgment, to recover an award of statutory damages in the amount
191	191	of $20,000 per violation, in lieu of actual damages.
192	192	(END)
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