Essay
Hello, I am a representative Lundberg and I will be presenting bill HF1584, which is an act relating to informed consent provided for sensitive examinations of an anesthetized or unconscious patient. This bill would require any medical professional to get consent prior to examination and keep the caregiver of the patient informed on any medical treatment that would be given on said patient.
This bill is needed to keep patients medically and mentally safe while being medically treated. This bill would make sure that patients are getting the proper care that they need, and are not being taken advantage of by medical professionals. It would also focus on improving doctor-patient relationships which would overall improve performance within hospitals and doctors offices. By gaining consent it would decrease the amount of unnecessary procedures which would save time, and money so that people are not misusing medical tools which costs hospitals, and offices more money. A specific example of this would be a 2024 survey which reported that 57.1% of respondents had administered a pelvic exam to anesthetized patients, without gaining consent. This statistic is proof that this is an issue that needs to be addressed and fixed. For patients that cannot give previous consent in cases like a medically induced coma, their caregiver would be responsible over those decisions based on the last recorded form of consent, or wishes the patient requested before entering comatose. Another problem is cases of sexual assault while patients are unconscious. In those situations patients usually go on without compensation, or care due to medical professionals claiming the procedure was needed.