HB 1538 – AS INTRODUCED
2014 SESSION
01/04
HOUSE BILL 1538
AN ACT relative to medical intervention in the provision of midwife services.
SPONSORS: Rep. Lambert, Hills 44
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
This bill clarifies medical intervention in the provision of midwife services.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
14-2487
01/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fourteen
AN ACT relative to medical intervention in the provision of midwife services.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Section; Midwifery. Amend RSA 326-D by inserting after section 12 the following new section:
326-D:12-a Informed Refusal of Medical Intervention. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prevent the client from maintaining the ultimate authority in deciding the location, management, and individuals involved in her care and the care of her baby, both prior to delivery and during the postpartum period. If at any point a medical intervention is recommended by a person she has hired to provide for intrapartum care, that person shall provide information about the risks and benefits of such medical intervention. The client may then opt to sign a waiver stating that she is informed of the risks and benefits of such medical intervention and is refusing such intervention and declining treatment. “Medical intervention” shall include any intervention into the course of an unmanaged, physiological delivery, including the physical movement of the client from her chosen birth place or the involvement of medical care or medical professionals assigned to her care. If the client refuses recommended intervention, the midwife who is caring for her may choose to continue to support her or may call the local hospital to notify it that she is unable to continue care. No individual who supports a woman in the process of normal physiological birth shall be sanctioned for providing support to a woman in unmanaged labor.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.