[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 68 (Thursday, April 26, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S2478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              JESSIE'S LAW

  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, in March 2016, we lost a young woman 
with great potential named Jessica Grubb. Jessie was a great student, a 
loving daughter and sister, and an avid runner. She was also recovering 
from an opioid addiction.
  When she had surgery for an infection related to a running injury, 
her parents were there to take care of her, and both Jessie and her 
parents told her doctors and hospital personnel that she was a 
recovering addict and not to be prescribed opioids.
  Unfortunately, Jessie's discharging physician did not see this note 
in her chart, despite it being in there eight separate times. He did 
not know that she was a recovering addict and sent her home with a 
prescription for 50 oxycodone pills.
  Her parents talked to her on the phone when she got home, but that 
was the last time they talked to her. She had passed away that night in 
her sleep. The temptation was too great for her, as it would be for so 
many in recovery.
  Her death was tragic, but preventable.
  That is why I introduced Jessie's Law and why I fought to have it 
included as part of the fiscal year 2018 omnibus appropriations bill. 
The fiscal year 2018 LHHS Appropriations Subcommittee Senate Report, 
which was signed into law, includes the following commonsense language 
to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish best 
practices for hospitals and physicians for sharing information about a 
patient's past opioid addiction when that information is shared by the 
patient with the healthcare provider: ``Opioid Medical Record 
Reporting.--The Committee is deeply concerned about the devastating 
impact that the opioid epidemic is having on families throughout the 
country, and recognizes that medical providers must have access to 
information about their patients' past opioid addiction if that 
information is provided by the patient. The Committee encourages the 
Secretary to develop and disseminate standards that would allow 
hospitals and physicians to access the history of opioid addiction in 
medical records (including electronic health records) of any patient 
who has provided information about such addiction to a healthcare 
provider.''
  These standards will be created in honor of Jessica Grubb and will 
help ensure that a patient's substance use disorder history is included 
in a patient's record like any other life-threatening medical issue, 
including a penicillin allergy.
  This will help keep a tragedy like Jessie's death from ever happening 
again by ensuring that, when individuals are open about their past 
addiction, healthcare providers will have access to the information 
that they need to provide medically appropriate care and save lives.

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