By Journalist Rose DeWeese (OSU)
House bill SE 502 presented by Representative Baughman passed in the House today. Bill 502 strives to protect patients by countering fertility fraud. Over 50 doctors have been accused of fertility fraud in America to date. The “Protecting Patients” Act aspires to place oversight over this process to prevent fertility fraud from taking place.
Representative McIntyre of the OSU delegation shared her take on the bill and said, “I agree with the content of the bill. There were a couple of amendments that were added that would make it an even better bill and improve it and I was definitely in favor of those. Overall I thought the intention of the bill was great, I thought the wording of the boat was great, and I think the votes reflected that,”
When asked what amendments to the bill would be beneficial McIntyre stated,
“So the amendments, one of them specifically in referencing how long it could be before those cases how how long those cases could be I guess viable before you know the statute of limitations would expired and they could no longer be prosecuted.”
Representative Caroline Kizziar of OSU agreed with SE bill 502 as well and said, “I think it will be beneficial. I was a little surprised to learn that that was even happening in the first and so hopefully this can increase doctor patient trust a little bit. Because if I had thought about this before and it had not been legislated out It will be pretty difficult to trust a doctor for this kind of thing. So I hope that more steps of legislation like this will increase trust between doctors and patients,” (Kizzar).
This piece of legislation focuses on patient consent, reporting mechanisms, and strict penalties for offenders, the “Protecting Patients” Act of 2023 seeks to uphold the highest standards of both ethical and responsible medical practice to provide patients with more protections.