Permitting certain individuals to make requests for medication for the purpose of ending their lives and providing penalties. (FE)

1. First, the requester must orally ask his or her attending physician for the medication. Then, not fewer than 15 days later, the requester must again request the medication, using a valid request form that is substantially in the form specified in the bill, is in writing, is signed in the presence of three qualified witnesses and dated by the requester, is made voluntarily, and is filed in the requester's patient health care record. After the written request is filed, the requester must orally ask his or her attending physician a second time for the medication. The attending physician may not prescribe a medication to fulfill a request for medication until at least 48 hours after the second oral request.

2. The requester's attending physician must determine that the requester meets the requirements for making the request; must inform the requester of his or her diagnosis and prognosis, the probable results of taking the prescribed medication, and the alternatives to doing so; must refer the requester to a consulting physician for review; must, if the requester may be suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder, refer the requester to a psychiatrist or psychologist for review; must, in the requester's patient health care record, document certain information and certify that requirements have been met regarding the request;

must ask the requester to inform his or her next of kin about the request; must inform the requester that the request is revocable and offer him or her the opportunity to revoke it; and must report information about the request to DHS on a form prescribed by DHS.

3. A consulting physician to whom the requester is referred must medically confirm the attending physician's diagnosis and determination that the requester meets the requirements for making the request. Any psychologist or psychiatrist to whom the requester is referred by the attending or consulting physician must determine and certify in writing that the requester is not suffering from a psychiatric or psychological disorder, including depression, that causes impaired judgment.

The bill specifies that, if the requester is a resident of a nursing home or community-based residential facility, at least one of the witnesses to the written request for medication must be a residents' advocate designated by the Board on Aging and Long-Term Care. The bill also specifies procedures by which a requester may revoke a request for medication and provides that making a request for medication does not revoke or otherwise modify a declaration to physicians or health care power of attorney that a requester may have. The bill provides that making a request for medication does not constitute attempted suicide and that taking medication under a fulfilled request does not constitute suicide. The bill establishes penalties for certain actions with regard to the request for medication, but prohibits a health care facility or health care provider from being charged with a crime, being held civilly liable, or being charged with unprofessional conduct for failing to fulfill a request (except that an attending physician who refuses to fulfill a valid request and fails to make a good faith attempt to transfer the requester to another physician who will fulfill the request may be charged with unprofessional conduct), for fulfilling a valid request, or for acting contrary to or failing to act on a revocation of a request unless the health care facility or health care provider has actual knowledge of the revocation.

This bill also provides that, when a patient dies as a result of a request for medication under the bill, a physician or other person having knowledge of the death need not report the death to the sheriff, medical examiner, or coroner of the county or the police chief of the community where the death took place, as is required for certain deaths, including suicides, under current law.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime, the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a report concerning the proposed penalty and the costs or savings that are likely to result if the bill is enacted.