HB0002 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB101 03317 RPS 48325 b

101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2019 and 2020
HB0002

Introduced 1/9/2019, by Rep. Mary E. Flowers

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

410 ILCS 50/3.4 new

Amends the Medical Patient Rights Act. Provides that every woman has certain rights with regard to pregnancy and childbirth, including the right to receive care that is consistent with current scientific evidence about benefits and risks, the right to choose her birth setting, the right to be provided with certain information, and the right to be treated with respect at all times before, during, and after pregnancy by her health care professionals and to have a health care professional that is culturally competent and treats her appropriately regardless of her ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious background. Requires the Department of Public Health, Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Department of Children and Family Services, and Department of Human Services to post information about these rights on their publicly available websites. Requires every health care provider, day care center, Head Start, and community center to post information about these rights in a prominent place and on their websites, if applicable. Requires the Department of Public Health to adopt rules to implement the provisions. Effective immediately.

FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning health.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Medical Patient Rights Act is amended by adding Section 3.4 as follows:

(410 ILCS 50/3.4 new)

Sec. 3.4. Rights of women; pregnancy and childbirth.

(a) In addition to any other right provided under this Act, every woman has the following rights with regard to pregnancy and childbirth:

(1) The right to receive health care before, during, and after pregnancy and childbirth.

(2) The right to receive care for her and her infant that is consistent with current scientific evidence about benefits and risks.

(3) The right to choose a midwife or a physician as her maternity care provider.

(4) The right to choose her birth setting from the full range of safe options available in her community on the basis of complete, objective information about the benefits, risks, and costs of those options.

(5) The right to leave her maternity caregiver and select another if she becomes dissatisfied with her care.

(6) The right to receive information about the professional identity and qualifications of those involved with her care and to know when those involved are trainees.

(7) The right to communicate with caregivers and receive all care in privacy, which may involve excluding nonessential personnel, and to have all personal information treated according to standards of confidentiality.

(8) The right to receive maternity care that identifies and addresses social and behavioral factors that affect her health and that of her baby.

(9) The right to full and clear information about benefits, risks, and costs of the procedures, drugs, tests, and treatments offered to her and of all other reasonable options, including no intervention.

(10) The right to accept or refuse procedures, drugs, tests, and treatments, to have her choices honored, and to change her decision about accepting or refusing those procedures, drugs, tests, or treatment.

(11) The right to be informed if her caregivers wish to enroll her or her infant in a research study, to receive full information about all known and possible benefits and risks of participation, and to decide whether to participate, free from coercion and without negative consequences.

(12) The right to unrestricted access to all available records about her pregnancy, labor, birth, postpartum care, and infant; to obtain a full copy of these records; and to receive help in understanding them, if necessary.

(13) The right to receive maternity care that is appropriate to her cultural and religious background and to receive information in a language in which she can communicate.

(14) The right to have family members and friends of her choice present during all aspects of her maternity care.

(15) The right to receive continuous social, emotional, and physical support during labor and birth from a caregiver who has been trained in labor support.

(16) the right to receive full advance information about risks and benefits of all reasonably available methods for relieving pain during labor and birth, including methods that do not require the use of drugs; to choose which methods will be used; and to change her decision about using those methods at any time.

(17) The right to freedom of movement during labor, unencumbered by tubes, wires, or other apparatuses and to give birth in the position of her choice.

(18) The right to virtually uninterrupted contact with her newborn from the moment of birth if she and her baby are healthy and do not need care that requires separation.

(19) The right to receive complete information about the benefits of breastfeeding well in advance of labor, to refuse supplemental bottles and other actions that interfere with breastfeeding, and to have access to skilled lactation support for as long as she chooses to breastfeed.

(20) The right to decide collaboratively with caregivers when she and her baby will leave the birth site for home, based on their conditions and circumstances.

(21) The right to be treated with respect at all times before, during, and after pregnancy by her health care professionals and to have a health care professional that is culturally competent and treats her appropriately regardless of her ethnicity, sexual orientation, or religious background.

(b) The Department of Public Health, Department of Healthcare and Family Services, Department of Children and Family Services, and Department of Human Services shall post information about these rights on their publicly available websites. Every health care provider, day care center licensed under the Child Care Act of 1969, Head Start, and community center shall post information about these rights in a prominent place and on their websites, if applicable.

(c) The Department of Public Health shall adopt rules to implement this Section.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.