Oklahoma has pending legislation titled the "Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act" (SB 1695). This is very similar to pending Idaho legislation about which I have blogged several times. The Idaho bill has passed both houses and is sitting on the governor's desk. The Oklahoma bill has passed the Senate and has been passed out of the house public health committee.
The purpose of the Oklahoma bill is to prohibit the denial of life-preserving health care services from a requesting patient on the basis of a view that extending the life of an elderly, disabled or terminally ill individual is of lower value than extending the life of someone who is younger, nondisabled or not terminally ill.
It also prohibits the denial of services on the basis of disagreement with how the patient or their representatives value the tradeoff between extending the length of the patient’s life and the risk of disability. Affected patients or their representatives may maintain injunctive relief against a health care provider who violates or is about to violate these provisions.
The key language from the bill is the following:
A health care provider shall not deny to a patient a life-preserving health care service the provider provides to other patients, the provision of which is directed by the patient or a person authorized to make health care decisions for the patient:
1. On the basis of a view that treats extending the life of an elderly, disabled, or terminally ill individual as of lower value than extending the life of an individual who is younger, non-disabled, or not terminally ill; or
2. On the basis of disagreement with how the patient or person authorized to make health care decisions for the patient values the tradeoff between extending the length of the patient's life and the risk of disability.
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