AN ACT
RELATING TO HEALTH CARE; ENACTING THE
SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS EMERGENCY CARE ACT; PROVIDING PENALTIES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF
THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the
"Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act".
Section 2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Sexual Assault
Survivors Emergency Care Act:
A. "department" means the department
of health;
B. "emergency care for sexual assault
survivors" means medical examinations, procedures and services provided by
a hospital to a sexual assault survivor following an alleged sexual assault;
C. "emergency contraception" means a
drug approved by the federal food and drug administration that prevents
pregnancy after sexual intercourse;
D. "hospital" means a facility
providing emergency or urgent health care;
E. "medically and factually accurate and
objective" means verified or supported by the weight of research conducted
in compliance with accepted scientific methods and standards; published in
peer-reviewed journals; and recognized as accurate and objective by leading
professional organizations and agencies with relevant expertise in the field of
obstetrics and gynecology, such as the American college of obstetricians and
gynecologists;
F. "sexual assault" means the crime of
criminal sexual penetration; and
G. "sexual assault survivor" means a
female who alleges or is alleged to have been sexually assaulted and who
presents as a patient to a hospital.
Section 3. EMERGENCY CARE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT SURVIVORS‑‑STANDARD
OF CARE.--
A. A hospital that provides emergency care for
sexual assault survivors shall:
(1) provide each sexual assault survivor with
medically and factually accurate and objective written and oral information
about emergency contraception;
(2) orally and in writing inform each sexual
assault survivor of her option to be provided emergency contraception at the
hospital; and
(3) provide emergency contraception at the
hospital to each sexual assault survivor who requests it.
B. The provision of emergency contraception
pills shall include the initial dose that the sexual assault survivor can take
at the hospital as well as the subsequent dose that the sexual assault survivor
may self-administer twelve hours following the initial dose.
Section 4. TRAINING.--No later than September 30, 2003:
A. a hospital shall ensure that all personnel
who provide care to sexual assault survivors are trained to provide medically
and factually accurate and objective information about emergency contraception;
and
B. the department shall adopt rules regulating
the training to be provided by hospitals pursuant to the Sexual Assault
Survivors Emergency Care Act to personnel who provide emergency care for sexual
assault survivors.
Section 5. ENFORCEMENT--ADMINISTRATIVE FINES.--
A. Complaints of failure to provide services
required by the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act may be filed with
the department.
B. The department shall immediately investigate
every complaint it receives regarding failure of a hospital to provide services
required by the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act to determine the
action to be taken to satisfy the complaint.
C. The department shall compile all complaints
it receives regarding failure to provide services required by the Sexual
Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act and shall retain the complaints for at
least ten years so that they can be analyzed for patterns of failure to provide
services pursuant to that act.
D. If the department determines that a hospital
has failed to provide the services required in the Sexual Assault Survivors
Emergency Care Act, the department shall:
(1) issue a written warning to the hospital upon
receipt of a complaint that the hospital is not providing the services required
by the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act; and
(2) based on the department's investigation of
the first complaint, require the hospital to correct the deficiency leading to
the complaint.
E. If after the issuance of a written warning to
the hospital pursuant to Subsection D of this section, the department finds
that the hospital has failed to provide services required by the Sexual Assault
Survivors Emergency Care Act, the department shall, for a second through fifth
complaint, impose on the hospital a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000):
(1) per sexual assault survivor who is found by
the department to have been denied medically and factually accurate and
objective information about emergency contraception or who is not offered or
provided emergency contraception; or
(2) per month from the date of the complaint
alleging noncompliance until the hospital provides training pursuant to the
rules of the department.
F. For the sixth and subsequent complaint
against the same hospital if the department finds the hospital has failed to
provide services required by the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act,
the department shall impose an intermediate sanction pursuant to Section
24-1-5.2 NMSA 1978 or suspend or revoke the license of the hospital issued
pursuant to the Public Health Act.
Section 6. SEVERABILITY.--If any part or application of
the Sexual Assault Survivors Emergency Care Act is held invalid, the remainder
of its application to other situations or persons shall not be afffected.
HJC/HB 119
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