Enrolled Bill Summary

Senate Bill 1309 amends the Health and Safety Code to require a hospital, facility, or physician, before beginning a series of electroconvulsive therapy treatment on a patient 65 years of age or older, to ensure that two physicians have signed a form stating that the treatment is medically necessary, to make the form available to the patient or the patient's guardian, and to inform the patient or the patient's guardian of any known medical condition that may increase the possibility of injury or death as a result of the treatment. In addition, the act requires that the written consent form required before the use of electroconvulsive therapy explicitly state the possibility of death rather than the remote possibility of death.