Revision: Nov. 7, 2023, 9:59 a.m.
2024 SESSION
24-2228.1
05/10
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to terminal patients' right to try act.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill revises the definition of eligible patient and terminal illness for purposes of the patient's right to try act, expands the criteria for informed consent, and removes references to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for purposes of defining an investigational drug or device.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-2228.1
05/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT relative to terminal patients' right to try act.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Terminal Patients' Right to Try Act; Definition of Eligible Patient. Amend RSA 126-Z:1, I to read as follows:
I. "Eligible patient" means a person to whom all of the following apply:
(a) The person has a terminal illness [as determined by the person's physician and a consulting physician] for which there is no known or accepted curative option.
(b) The person's physician has determined that the person has no comparable or satisfactory [United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved] treatment options available to diagnose, monitor, or treat the disease or condition involved and that the probable risk to the person from the investigational drug, biological product, or device is not greater than the probable risk from the disease or condition.
(c) The person has received a prescription or recommendation from the person's physician for an investigational drug, biological product, or device.
(d) The person has given written informed consent for the use of the investigational drug, biological product, or device or, if the patient is a minor or lacks the mental capacity to provide informed consent, a parent or legal guardian has given written informed consent on the patient's behalf. Written informed consent shall be given in the presence of 2 witnesses or a notary and shall be provided outside the presence of the prescribing doctor or staff. Consent shall include a patient's assessment of risks involved in treatment and shall include a waiver of legal liability for any adverse results from the treatment. Consent also may include an audio or video recording of the patient's statements.
(e) The person has documentation from the person's physician that the person has met the requirements of this paragraph.
2 Terminal Patients' Right to Try Act; Definition of Terminal Illness. Amend RSA 126-Z:1, IV to read as follows:
IV. "Terminal illness" means a disease for which there is no presently available curative option and that, without life-sustaining procedures, will result in death [in the near future] or a state of permanent unconsciousness from which recovery is unlikely.
3 Liability of Physician; Exemption. Amend RSA 126-Z:3, I to read as follows:
I. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, no state licensing board, including the board of medicine, [shall not revoke, fail to renew, or take any other action against a physician's license issued pursuant to RSA 329 based solely on a physician's recommendation to an eligible patient regarding or prescription for or treatment with an investigational drug, biological product, or device] shall take any action against a physician or other health care provider who has acted in good faith and within the provisions of this chapter.
4 Repeal. RSA 126-Z:1, II, relative to the definition of investigational drug, biological product, or device, is repealed.
5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect January 1, 2025.