Senate Bill S1944

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S1944

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the public health law, in relation
to requiring emergency department personnel to conduct physical checks
of patients awaiting emergency treatment every fifteen minutes

 PURPOSE :

This bill will insure that all people waiting for medical assistance
are seen by hospital personnel on a regular basis while waiting to see
the acting emergency physician or physician assistant.  By providing
this service, emergency personnel will be able to keep a watchful eye
on those patients to make sure a problem can be addressed immediately
if the need should arise.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York
State Patient Protection Act".

§ 2. The public health law is amended by adding a new section 2827 to
read as follows:

§ 2827. Patients waiting for emergency treatment. Emergency department
personnel, including nurses, security, or other trained hospital
personnel, shall conduct physical checks on the health and wellness of
              

all patients who are waiting emergency treatment at least every
fifteen minutes.

§ 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

 EXISTING LAW :

None exist at this time that would effect this legislation

 JUSTIFICATION :

Since 2009, the closure of several hospitals throughout the state of
New York have forced residents to receive treatment at other local
hospitals. The influx of these new patients at these hospitals is
quickly overwhelming their respective emergency departments resulting
in higher wait times. In New York State, alone a non-emergency patient
seeking treatment can expect an average wait time of 5 hours or more
depending on the hospital. In New York City hospitals the wait can be
anywhere from 8-24 hours.

The increases are partially due to the rate of high unemployment in
the aftermath of the great recession and the long term uninsured who
have no choice but to use the emergency department as their personal
physician.

Also, several deaths have occurred recently due to this new normal. A
man in his 30's was a patient waiting to be seen at the emergency
department of St, Barnabas hospital in the Bronx and died in the
waiting room at the time his body was discovered he had been waiting
in the emergency department 8 hours.

In 2008 A woman in her late forties died while awaiting treatment at
Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn at the time of her death she had
been waiting about 24 hours. Currently the State of New York does not
have a policy that requires hospitals to check that those who are
awaiting treatment are currently present in the emergency department
or to make sure that such persons are alive.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2014 - S7029 (LATIMER) REFERRED TO HEALTH
20115-16- S2606 (LATIMER) REFERRED TO HEALTH

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None