Kansas
House Bill No. 2491 (2001)
Health Care Professionals' Rights of Conscience Act
Contents
Section 1. Title
Section 2. Purpose
Section 3. Definitions
Section 4. Protection of Health Care Professionals
Section 5. Protection of Health Care Institutions
Section 6. Protection of Health Care Payers
Section 7. Civil Remedy and Injunctive Relief
Section 8. Act Severable
Section 9. Coming into Force
Session of 2001
By Committee on Federal and State Affairs
2-12
AN ACT concerning the health care professionals' rights of conscience.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
Section 1.
This act may be known and cited as the health care providers'rights of
conscience act.
Sec. 2.
(a) It is the public policy of the state of Kansas to respect and protect
the fundamental rights of conscience of all individuals who provide health
care services.
(b) Without a comprehensive civil rights act for health care
professionals, religious beliefs and rights of conscience may be violated in
various ways, such as harassment, demotion, salary reduction, transfer,
termination, loss of staffing privileges, denial of aid or benefits and
refusal to license or certify.
(c) It is the purpose of this act to protect as a basic civil right the
right of all individuals and entities to decline to counsel, advise, pay
for, provide, perform, assist, refer for or participate in providing or
performing health care services that violate their religious or moral
convictions. Such health care services may include abortion, artificial
insemination, assisted reproduction, artificial birth control, cloning,
human stem cell and fetal experimentation, physician-assisted suicide and
euthanasia.
(d) Accordingly, it is the purpose of this act to prohibit all forms of
discrimination, disqualification, coercion, disability or liability upon
such individuals or entities that decline to perform any health care service
based on religious or moral convictions.
Sec. 3.
As used in this act, the following definitions apply:
(a) ''Health care service'' means any phase of patient
medical care, treatment or procedure, including the following: Therapy,
diagnosis or prognosis, research, instruction, prescribing or administering
any device, drug or medication, surgery or any other care or treatment
rendered by health care providers or health care institutions.
(b) ''Health care professional'' means any individual
who may be asked to participate in a health care service, including a
physician, physician's assistant, nurse, nurses' aide, medical assistant,
hospital employee, clinic employee, nursing home employee, pharmacist,
pharmacy employee, medical or nursing school faculty, student or employee,
counselor, social worker or any professional, paraprofessional or any other
person who furnishes or assists in the furnishing of health care services.
(c) ''Health care institution'' means any public or
private organization, corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship,
association, agency, network, joint venture or other legal entity that is
involved in providing health care services, including hospitals, clinics,
medical centers, ambulatory surgical centers, private physician's offices,
pharmacies, nursing homes, university medical schools and nursing schools,
medical training facilities or other institutions or locations where health
care services are provided to any person.
(d) ''Health care payer'' means any entity or employer
that pays for any health care service or product including health
maintenance organizations, health plans, insurance companies, management
service organization and employers that pay for or provide health insurance
coverage as a benefit to their employees.
(e) ''Includes'' and ''including'' is a
term of illustration, not limitation.
(f) ''Participate'' in a health care service means to
counsel, advise, provide, perform, assist in, refer for, admit for purposes
of providing or participate in providing any health care service or any form
of such service.
(g) ''Pay'' or ''payment'' means pay,
contract for or otherwise arrange for the payment of, in whole or in part.
(h) ''Religious or moral convictions'' means the
religious or moral principles sincerely held by an individual and the
policies adopted by a health care institution or health care payer that are
based on sincerely held religious or moral principles.
Sec. 4.
(a) A health care professional has the right not to participate, and no
health care professional shall be required to participate in a health care
service that violates such individual's religious or moral convictions.
(b) No health care professional shall be civilly, criminally or
administratively liable for declining to participate in a health care
service that violates such individual's religious or moral convictions.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person, health care professional, health
care institution, public or private institution, public official or any
board which certifies competency in medical specialties to discriminate
against a health care professional in any manner based on such health care
professional's declining to participate in a health care service that
violates such individual's religious or moral convictions. For purposes of
this act, discrimination includes termination, transfer, refusal of staff
privileges, refusal of board certification, adverse administrative action,
demotion, loss of career specialty, reassignment to a different shift,
reduction of wages or benefits, refusal to award any grant, contract or
other program, refusal to provide residency training opportunities or any
other penalty, disciplinary or retaliatory action.
Sec. 5.
(a) A health care institution has the right not to participate, and no
health care institution shall be required to participate in a health care
service that violates its religious or moral convictions.
(b) No health care institution shall be civilly, criminally or
administratively liable for declining to participate in a health care
service that violates the institution's moral or religious convictions.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution or
public official to discriminate against any health care institution or
person, association or corporation attempting to establish a new health care
institution or operating an existing health care institution in any manner,
including any denial, deprivation or disqualification with respect to
licensure; any aid, assistance, benefit or privilege, including staff
privileges; or any authorization, including authorization to create, expand,
improve, acquire or affiliate or merge with any health care institution,
because such health care institution or person, association or corporation
planning, proposing or operating a health care institution, declines to
participate in a health care service which violates the health care
institution's religious or moral convictions as reflected in its existing or
proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws,
articles of incorporation, rules and regulations or other policies.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any public official, agency, institution or
entity to deny any form of aid, assistance, grants or benefits, or in any
other manner to coerce, disqualify or discriminate against any person,
association or corporation attempting to establish a new health care
institution or operating an existing health care institution because the
existing or proposed health care institution declines to participate in a
health care service contrary to the health care institution's religious or
moral convictions as reflected in its existing or proposed ethical
guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of
incorporation, rules and regulations or other policies.
Sec. 6.
(a) A health care payer has the right to decline to pay, and, no health
care payer shall be required to pay, for any health care service or product
that violates its religious or moral convictions.
(b) No health care payer and no person, association or corporation that
owns, operates, supervises or manages a health care payer shall be civilly
or criminally liable by reason of the health care payer's declining to pay
for any health care service that violates its religious or moral convictions
as reflected in its ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution,
bylaws, articles of incorporation, regulations or other policies.
(c) It shall be unlawful for any person, public or private institution or
public official to discriminate against any health care payer or any person,
association or corporation (1) attempting to establish a new health care
payer, or (2) operating an existing health care payer, in any manner,
including any denial, deprivation or disqualification with respect to
licensure or any aid, assistance, benefit, privilege or authorization,
including any authorization to create, expand, improve, acquire or affiliate
or merge with any health care payer because the health care payer or a
person, association or corporation planning, proposing or operating a health
care payer declines to pay for any health care service that violates its
religious or moral convictions, as reflected in the existing or proposed
ethical guidelines, mission statement, constitution, bylaws, articles of
incorporation, regulations or other policies.
(d) It shall be unlawful for any public official, agency, institution or
entity to deny any form of aid, assistance, grants or benefits or in any
other manner to coerce, disqualify or discriminate against any health care
payer or any person, association or corporation attempting to establish a
new health care payer or operating an existing health care payer because the
existing or proposed health care payer declines to pay for any health care
service that is contrary to its religious or moral convictions, as reflected
in its existing or proposed ethical guidelines, mission statement,
constitution, bylaws, articles of incorporation, rules and regulations or
other written policies.
Sec. 7.
(a) A civil action for damages or injunctive relief or both may be
brought for the violation of any provision of this act. It shall not be a
defense to any claim arising out of the violation of this act that such
violation was necessary to prevent additional burden or expense on any other
health care professional, health care institution, individual or patient.
(b) Any individual, association, corporation, entity or health care
institution injured by any public or private individual, association,
agency, entity or corporation by reason of any conduct prohibited by this
act may commence a civil action. Upon finding a violation of this act, the
aggrieved party shall be entitled to recover threefold the actual damages,
including pain and suffering, sustained by such individual, association,
corporation, entity or health care institution, the costs of the action and
reasonable attorney fees; but in no case shall recovery be less than $5,000
for each violation in addition to costs of the action and reasonable
attorney fees. These damage remedies shall be cumulative and not exclusive
of other remedies afforded under any other state or federal law.
(c) The court in such civil action may award injunctive relief, including
ordering reinstatement of a health care professional to such health care
professional's prior job position.
Sec. 8.
The provisions of the act are declared to be severable and if any
provision, word, phrase or clause of the act or the application thereof to
any person shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the
validity of the remaining portions of this act.
Sec. 9.
This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its publication
in the statute book.