SB 1447 Summary

• Requires attending health care practitioners (physicians licensed under chapters 13 or 17, or registered nurse practitioners) to offer terminally ill patients information and counseling about palliative care and end-of-life options.

• Mandates practitioners provide information on the range of appropriate options, prognosis, risks and benefits of various options, and patients' legal rights to comprehensive pain and symptom management at end of life.

• Allows information to be provided orally or in writing, and permits practitioners to delegate the counseling to another qualified individual.

• Requires practitioners who are unwilling to provide the required information to either arrange for another practitioner to do so or refer the patient to a willing practitioner.

• Defines "terminal illness or condition" as an illness expected to cause death within six months, and "palliative care" as treatment to prevent or relieve pain and suffering while enhancing quality of life, including hospice care.