HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4272        FILED ON: 6/3/2014

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No.         

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Randy Hunt, (BY REQUEST)

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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 the unlawful withholding of nutrition and hydration.

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PETITION OF:

HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 4272        FILED ON: 6/3/2014

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No.         

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Fourteen

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An Act relative to the unlawful withholding of nutrition and hydration.

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

Chapter 265 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 13K the following section:-

Section 13K 1/2.  (a) Whoever, being a caretaker to a child or dependent person, intentionally withholds nutrition or hydration from such child or dependent person that results in substantial bodily injury or death shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for not more than 10 years or by imprisonment in the house of correction for not more that 2 and one-half years or by a fine of not more than $10,000 or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(b) For the purposes of this section, the term “caretaker” shall mean a parent or guardian of a child or dependent person, the person entrusted with the physical custody of a child or dependent person, a person who has assumed the responsibility to provide to a dependent person nutrition or hydration, or a person employed to provide to the child or dependent person nutrition or hydration.