On Thursday, the Alabama House of Representatives voted in favor of legislation that would guarantee that family members may spend time with their sick and dying loved ones in an Alabama hospital or nursing home. The legislation has already passed the Senate, so it now is in the Governor’s office awaiting her signature.
Senate Bill 113 (SB113) is sponsored by State Sen. Garlan Gudger. It is being carried in the House by Rep. Debbie Wood.
SB113 requires healthcare facilities to adopt certain visitation policies. Specifically, it provides that patients have a right to visitation. Patients are allowed to designate an essential caregiver, and this bill guarantees that that caregiver has visitation rights.
Rep. Wood explained that a patient could change their caregiver while in the hospital. For example, one adult child could be the designated caregiver on one day and their sibling on the next.
Wood also said that the bill prohibits a healthcare facility from requiring visitors to show proof of vaccination. They also are prohibited from banning consensual physical contact between visitors and patients.
Wood explained that the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) will be tasked with requiring healthcare facilities to provide visitation policies to the Department and of Public Health. That visitation policy cannot be more restrictive than the policy that the hospital has for its staff. ADPH will develop a mechanism for complaints to be lodged and will have a page on its website that explains the visitation rights law. SB113 also provides for certain immunity from liability.
Woods said that a doctor may, in certain circumstances, exempt a psychiatric care facility from the visitation requirement.
The legislature passed a bill last year establishing patients’ visitation rights, but that bill was virtually unenforceable.
“Last year, we passed House Bill 521,” Wood said in Committee. “The problem was we still had family members who were not able to get into see their loved ones.”
This bill would allow a health care facility to suspend in-person visitation of a specific visitor if a visitor violates the facility’s policies and procedures.”
The impetus for this bill resulted from highly restrictive (in many cases – complete and total bans on visitations) during the COVID-19 global pandemic.
The bill is named after Harold Sachs – the longtime Chief of Staff of the Alabama Republican Party. Sachs was diagnosed with COVID-19 and pneumonia in late 2020. His condition deteriorated quickly, and after a few weeks, he passed away. Sachs’ family – like many Alabama families- were not allowed to visit Harold in the COVID-19 ward.
Woods credited the Sachs family for their efforts in getting the bill passed.
The bill also was amended to include the name Ann Roberts in the title. Ann Roberts was the wife of State Sen. Dan Roberts. She lost a long battle with COVID-19 in 2021.
State Rep. Mary Moore felt that the bill went too far in limiting a hospital’s ability to pass rules to prevent the spread of disease.
SB113 passed the Alabama House of Representatives 100 to 1.
SB113 has already passed the Senate on a 33 to 0 vote. It now goes to Governor Kay Ivey for her consideration. Ivey could sign the bill into law, or she could veto it and send it back to the Legislature with a recommendation for changes. It takes a simple majority of each house of the legislature to override a governor’s veto in Alabama.
Tuesday will be the eighth legislative day of the 2023 Alabama Regular Legislative Session. The Alabama Constitution limits the legislature to no more than thirty legislative days in a regular session.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com
