AB 526

Current law prescribes the situations and procedures under which a guardian

may consent to the voluntary or involuntary administration of psychotropic

medications to his or her ward. This bill requires that a nursing home obtain written

informed consent before administering a psychotropic medication that contains a

boxed warning to any resident who has degenerative brain disorder. A psychotropic

medication is an antipsychotic, an antidepressant, lithium carbonate, or a

tranquilizer. A boxed warning is a warning, described in the federal regulations, the

text of which is contained in a black outlined box on the drug's label and in the full

prescribing information.

Under the bill, the nursing home may obtain written informed consent using

either a form created by the Department of Health Services or its own form that

contains certain items, including: space for a description of the benefits of the

proposed treatment and the way the medication will be administered; a description,

using the most recently issued information from the federal Food and Drug

Administration, of the side effects or risks of side effects of the medication and any

warnings about the medication; spaces for a description of alternative medications

and probable consequences of not receiving the medication; and a declaration that

the resident or a person acting on behalf of the resident has been provided with the

information and time to study the information or seek additional information

concerning the medication. Either the resident or, if the resident is incapacitated,

a person acting on behalf of the resident, may provide written informed consent. A

nursing home is not required to obtain written informed consent if there is an

emergency in which a resident, who is not under a court order for administration of

psychotropic medication, is at significant risk of physical or emotional harm or puts

others at significant risk of physical harm; if time and distance preclude obtaining

written informed consent; and if a physician has determined that the resident or

others will be harmed if treatment is not initiated. In such an emergency situation,

the nursing home must obtain oral consent, enter the oral consent in the resident's

medical record, and obtain written informed consent within ten days. If the nursing

home is unable to contact a person acting on behalf of an incapacitated resident to

obtain oral consent but has made a good faith effort to contact such a person, the

nursing home may administer the psychotropic medication to the resident for up to

24 hours before it must obtain oral consent from the resident or a person acting on

behalf of the resident.