HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 692        FILED ON: 1/19/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 465

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Elizabeth A. Malia

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to EMTALA providers.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Elizabeth A. Malia

11th Suffolk

1/19/2011

Marc T. Lombardo

22nd Middlesex

1/19/2011

William N. Brownsberger

 

1/25/2011

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

2/1/2011

Sean Garballey

23rd Middlesex

2/1/2011

Denise Provost

27th Middlesex

2/3/2011

George T. Ross

2nd Bristol

2/3/2011

Carl M. Sciortino, Jr.

34th Middlesex

2/3/2011

David B. Sullivan

6th Bristol

2/4/2011


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 692        FILED ON: 1/19/2011

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 465

By Ms. Malia of Boston, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 465) of Elizabeth A. Malia and others relative to liability in tort actions against emergency medical treatment administered in compliance with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.  The Judiciary.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

An Act relative to EMTALA providers.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1.  Section 12B of Chapter 112, as appearing in the 2008 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding at the end thereof the following paragraph:-

Any health care provider, as defined in section one of chapter one hundred and eleven, who provides emergency medical services, first-aid treatment, or other emergency professional care in compliance with the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act or as a result of a declared disaster is not liable in damages to any person in a tort action for injury, death, or loss to person or property that allegedly arises from an act or omission of the health care provider’s provision of those services or that treatment or care if that act or omission does not constitute willful or wanton misconduct or a reckless disregard for the consequences so as to affect the life or health of the patient.  For the purposes of this section, reckless disregard, as it applies to a given health care provider, means conduct that the provider knew or should have known, at the time those services were rendered, created an unreasonable risk of injury, death, or loss to a person or property so as to affect the life or health or another and that risk was substantially greater than that which is necessary to make the conduct negligent.