South Carolina General Assembly
117th Session, 2007-2008

Download This Bill in Microsoft Word format

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

S. 439

STATUS INFORMATION

General Bill
Sponsors: Senator Ford
Document Path: l:\council\bills\nbd\11270ac07.doc
Companion/Similar bill(s): 438, 440, 441, 442, 443

Introduced in the Senate on February 14, 2007
Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs

Summary: Health care facilities

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   2/14/2007  Senate  Introduced and read first time SJ-2
   2/14/2007  Senate  Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ-2

View the latest legislative information at the LPITS web site

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

2/14/2007

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A BILL

TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976 BY ADDING SECTION 44-7-65 SO AS TO REQUIRE HEALTH CARE FACILITIES TO ESTABLISH PROTOCOLS ALLOWING A PATIENT TO DESIGNATE AN INDIVIDUAL AS AN AUTHORIZED VISITOR REGARDLESS OF THE BLOOD OR LEGAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE PATIENT TO THE INDIVIDUAL.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION    1.    Article 1, Chapter 7, Title 44 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:

"Section 44-7-65.    A health care facility, as defined in Section 44-7-130, shall develop a protocol allowing a patient to designate any individual as an authorized visitor, regardless of the blood or legal relationship of the patient to the individual. This protocol also must allow for the acceptance of a notarized hospital visitation authorization designating an individual as an authorized visitor and for the acceptance of such an authorization from the individual designated as an authorized visitor when a patient is incapacitated or otherwise unable to designate an authorized visitor."

SECTION    2.    This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on Monday, October 10, 2011 at 1:28 P.M.