113 S2196 IS: Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2014
U.S. Senate
2014-04-01
text/xml
EN
Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.
1.
This Act may be cited as the
Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2014
.
2.
Limitation on
liability for volunteer health care professionals
(a)
Title II of the
Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 202 et seq.) is amended by inserting
after
section 224 the following:
224A.
Limitation on
liability for volunteer health care professionals
(a)
Except as provided
in subsection (b), a health care professional shall not be liable
under Federal
or State law for any harm caused by an act or omission of the
professional
if—
(1)
the professional
is serving as a volunteer for purposes of responding to a disaster;
and
(2)
the act or
omission occurs—
(A)
during the period
of the disaster, as determined under the laws listed in subsection
(f)(1);
(B)
in the health care
professional’s capacity as such a volunteer; and
(C)
in a good faith belief that the individual
being treated is in need of health care services.
(b)
Subsection
(a) does not apply if—
(1)
the harm was
caused by an act or omission constituting willful or criminal
misconduct, gross
negligence, reckless misconduct, or a conscious flagrant
indifference to the
rights or safety of the individual harmed by the health care
professional;
or
(2)
the health care
professional rendered the health care services under the influence
(as
determined pursuant to applicable State law) of intoxicating
alcohol or an
intoxicating drug.
(c)
In any civil action or proceeding against a health care
professional claiming that the limitation in subsection (a)
applies, the
plaintiff shall have the burden of proving by clear and convincing
evidence the
extent to which limitation does not apply.
(d)
(1)
This section preempts
the laws of a State or any political subdivision of a State to the
extent that
such laws are inconsistent with this section, unless such laws
provide greater
protection from liability.
(2)
Protections afforded by this section are in
addition to those provided by the Volunteer Protection Act of 1997.
(e)Nothing in this section shall supplant any other provision of Federal, State, local, or tribal law
that establish liability schemes or liability protections that exceed
those provided by this section, including without limitation the
provisions of chapter 171 of title
28, United States Code (commonly known as the Federal Tort Claims Act).
(f)
In
this section:
(1)
The term
disaster means—
(A)
a national
emergency declared by the President under the National Emergencies
Act;
(B)
an emergency or
major disaster declared by the President under the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act; or
(C)
a public health
emergency determined by the Secretary under section 319 of this
Act.
(2)
The term
harm includes physical, nonphysical, economic, and noneconomic
losses.
(3)
The term
health care professional means an individual who is licensed,
certified, or authorized in one or more States to practice a health
care
profession.
(4)
The term
State includes each of the several States, the District of
Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands,
Guam, American
Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, and any other territory or
possession of
the United States.
(5)
(A)
The term
volunteer means a health care professional who, with respect to
the health care services rendered, does not receive—
(i)
compensation;
or
(ii)
any other thing of value in lieu of
compensation, in excess of $500 per year.
(B)
For purposes of subparagraph (A), the
term compensation—
(i)
includes payment under any insurance policy
or health plan, or under any Federal or State health benefits
program;
and
(ii)
excludes—
(I)
reasonable reimbursement or allowance for
expenses actually incurred;
(II)
receipt of paid leave; and
(III)
receipt of items to be used exclusively
for rendering the health services in the health care professional’s
capacity as
a volunteer described in subsection
(a)(1).
.
(b)
(1)
This Act and the amendment made by subsection (a) shall
take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
(2)
This
Act applies to any claim for harm caused by an act or omission of a health
care
professional where the claim is filed on or after the effective date of
this
Act, but only if the harm that is the subject of the claim or the conduct
that
caused such harm occurred on or after such effective date.