By Duncan S.B. No. 1105
75R7526 DLF-D
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the liability of certain volunteer health care
1-3 providers.
1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-5 SECTION 1. (a) Committed volunteer health care providers
1-6 are needed to provide essential and needed health care services.
1-7 Millions of Texans, including children, lack basic health care
1-8 coverage that could provide benefits for these health care
1-9 services. Health care providers are increasingly deterred from
1-10 volunteering their services because of the perceived threat of
1-11 personal liability arising from their charitable activities. The
1-12 valuable contributions of programs, activities, and services to
1-13 this state and to local communities within this state are
1-14 diminished and worthwhile efforts are deterred by the reluctance of
1-15 volunteers to donate their services and risk unwarranted legal
1-16 exposure.
1-17 (b) The residents of this state have an overriding interest
1-18 in the continued and increased delivery of charitable health care
1-19 and in encouraging volunteers to give freely of their time,
1-20 energies, and talents without compensation in service to their
1-21 state and local communities.
1-22 (c) This Act is intended to encourage health care providers
1-23 to contribute their services by reducing their exposure to civil
1-24 liability and to maximize the charitable services and resources
2-1 donated by these volunteers.
2-2 SECTION 2. Title 4, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is
2-3 amended by adding Chapter 88 to read as follows:
2-4 CHAPTER 88. LIABILITY OF VOLUNTEER HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS
2-5 Sec. 88.001. DEFINITION. In this chapter, "health care
2-6 provider" means an individual who is licensed, certified,
2-7 registered, or otherwise recognized to provide health care services
2-8 or services related to health care. The term includes:
2-9 (A) an individual who is licensed to practice
2-10 medicine under the Medical Practice Act (Article 4495b, Vernon's
2-11 Texas Civil Statutes); and
2-12 (B) a retired health care provider who is
2-13 eligible to provide health care services under the law of this
2-14 state, including a retired physician who is licensed but exempt
2-15 from paying the required annual registration fee under Section
2-16 3.01(a), Medical Practice Act (Article 4495b, Vernon's Texas Civil
2-17 Statutes).
2-18 Sec. 88.002. IMMUNITY FROM LIABILITY. Subject to Section
2-19 88.003, a health care provider is not liable for an act or omission
2-20 resulting in personal injury to or death of a patient if:
2-21 (1) the health care provider commits the act or
2-22 omission in the course of providing health care services or
2-23 services related to health care to the patient;
2-24 (2) the care is not administered for or in expectation
2-25 of compensation; and
2-26 (3) the services provided are within the scope of the
2-27 license, certification, registration, or other recognition of the
3-1 health care provider.
3-2 Sec. 88.003. WAIVER BY PATIENT. (a) Section 88.002 applies
3-3 only if, before the provision of services to the patient, the
3-4 patient signs a written statement that:
3-5 (1) acknowledges that the health care provider is
3-6 providing services without compensation; and
3-7 (2) waives the right to recover damages to the extent
3-8 described by Section 88.002 in exchange for receiving the
3-9 uncompensated services.
3-10 (b) If the patient is a minor or is otherwise legally
3-11 incompetent, the written statement must be signed by the parent,
3-12 managing conservator, or legal guardian of the patient or other
3-13 person with legal responsibility for the care of the patient.
3-14 Sec. 88.004. EXCEPTION. This chapter does not apply to an
3-15 act or omission that is intentional, wilfully or wantonly
3-16 negligent, or done with conscious indifference or reckless
3-17 disregard for the safety of others.
3-18 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1997, and
3-19 applies only to a cause of action that accrues on or after that
3-20 date. An action that accrued before the effective date of this Act
3-21 is governed by the law as it existed immediately before the
3-22 effective date of this Act, and that law is continued in effect for
3-23 that purpose.
3-24 SECTION 4. The importance of this legislation and the
3-25 crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
3-26 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
3-27 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
4-1 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.