SB198 Summary

• Establishes the Assisted Suicide Ban Act prohibiting any person or health care provider from deliberately providing aid in dying to another person.

• Makes it a Class C felony for any person to deliberately assist another in committing suicide, and a Class C felony for physicians or health care providers to prescribe drugs or perform procedures deliberately to aid in dying.

• Imposes civil liability for violations including wrongful death actions, and allows health care provider licenses to be suspended or revoked for unprofessional conduct related to aiding in dying.

• Exempts from the prohibition: participation in court-ordered executions by lethal injection, withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment per patient wishes, administering palliative care or pain medication intended to relieve pain, and following advance directive instructions under Alabama law.

• Takes effect on the first day of the third month following passage and gubernatorial approval.