AB 863

This bill creates a requirement for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, or

any other places where surgical procedures are performed — referred to in the bill

as surgical facilities — to offer surgical patients the option to have their surgical

procedures and discharge instructions videotaped. Surgical facilities must provide

notice of the option and all related procedures and conditions set forth in the bill. For

purposes of this bill, a surgical procedure is one for which a patient is given a general

anesthetic. If a patient makes a request to have a surgical procedure or discharge

instructions recorded, this bill requires that the surgical facility, or its designee,

record the surgical procedure or discharge instructions with both audio and color

video. When recording of a surgical procedure is requested, the facility must record

with color video any entryway to or exit from the surgical suite during the time

reserved for the surgery of the requesting patient, including preparation time. If the

surgical patient is incapacitated, the surgical facility is required to provide a person

authorized by the patient with notice of the option for video recording, and that

person may request that a recording be made. Similarly, if the surgical patient is a

minor, the surgical facility must notify a parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the

option for video recording and allow that person to make a request for a recording

on behalf of the minor. The bill also allows a physician or certain other individual

who holds a valid license or other credential that allows him or her to perform

surgical procedures for which a patient is under general anesthesia (surgical

practitioner) and who is scheduled to perform a surgical patient's surgical procedure

to request that a recording be made. A health care provider who provides the patient

with discharge instructions may also request that those instructions, as provided, be

recorded. A surgical facility must comply with these requests so long as certain

conditions are met, including that the surgical patient or person authorized by the

patient does not object. Under the bill, in certain limited emergency circumstances,

surgical facilities are not required to provide the option of recording.

In return for exercising the option to have a surgical procedure recorded, under

the bill, the surgical patient or, if applicable, parent, guardian, legal custodian, or

person authorized by the patient may disclose the recording only to limited

authorized individuals unless confidentiality is waived by the health care provider

or surgical practitioner that is a subject of the video recording. Video recordings of

surgical procedures created under this bill are otherwise treated as patient health

care records and are subject to the same protections as other medical records

including all criminal and civil penalties for improper disclosure or destruction. The

bill specifies that, once a recording is complete, the surgical facility or its designee

must preserve the recording as part of the patient's health care record but delete

copies of the recording from the recording device and elsewhere. Under the bill, a

surgical facility may charge a surcharge of up to $25 for each recording of a surgical

procedure or discharge instructions. Upon request, the surgical facility must provide