A 6866: Provides treatment for sexually transmitted diseases to minors without a parent's or guardian's consent; provides definition for health care practitioner.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6866 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY March 14, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to providing medical care to minors for sexually transmitted diseases without a parent's or guardian's consent The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 2305 of the public health law, as amended by chap- 2 ter 878 of the laws of 1980, the section heading and subdivisions 1 and 3 2 as amended by section 35 of part E of chapter 56 of the laws of 2013, 4 is amended to read as follows: 5 § 2305. Sexually transmitted diseases; care and treatment [by licensed 6 physician or staff physician of a hospital; prescriptions]; consent by 7 minors. 1. No person, other than a [licensed physician, or, in a hospi- 8 tal, a staff physician] health care practitioner, shall diagnose, treat 9 or prescribe for a person who is infected with a sexually transmitted 10 disease, or who has been exposed to infection with a sexually transmit- 11 ted disease, or dispense or sell a drug, medicine or remedy for the 12 treatment of such person except on prescription of a [duly licensed 13 physician] health care practitioner. 14 2. (a) A [licensed physician, or in a hospital, a staff physician,] 15 health care practitioner may diagnose, treat or prescribe treatment for 16 a sexually transmitted disease for a person under the age of [twenty- 17 one] eighteen years without the consent or knowledge of the parents or 18 [guardian] guardians of said person, where such person is infected with 19 a sexually transmitted disease, or has been exposed to infection with a 20 sexually transmitted disease. 21 (b) A health care practitioner may provide health care related to the 22 prevention of a sexually transmitted disease, including administering 23 vaccines, to a person under the age of eighteen years without the 24 consent or knowledge of the parents or guardians of such person, EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD02487-02-5 
 A. 6866 2 1 provided that the person has capacity to consent to the care, without 2 regard to the person's age, and the person consents. 3 (c) Any release of patient information regarding vaccines provided 4 under this section shall be consistent with sections seventeen and eigh- 5 teen of this chapter and other applicable laws and regulations. 6 3. For the purposes of this section, [the term] 7 (a) "hospital" shall mean a hospital as defined in article twenty- 8 eight of this chapter; and 9 (b) "health care practitioner" shall mean a person licensed, certified 10 or otherwise authorized to practice medicine under title eight of the 11 education law, acting within their lawful scope of practice. 12 § 2. The first undesignated paragraph of section 17 of the public 13 health law, as amended by chapter 322 of the laws of 2017, is amended to 14 read as follows: 15 Upon the written request of any competent patient, parent or guardian 16 of an infant, a guardian appointed pursuant to article eighty-one of the 17 mental hygiene law, or conservator of a conservatee, an examining, 18 consulting or treating physician or hospital must release and deliver, 19 exclusive of personal notes of the said physician or hospital, copies of 20 all x-rays, medical records and test records including all laboratory 21 tests regarding that patient to any other designated physician or hospi- 22 tal provided, however, that such records concerning the care and treat- 23 ment of an infant patient for venereal disease or the performance of an 24 abortion operation upon such infant patient shall not be released or in 25 any manner be made available to the parent or guardian of such infant, 26 and provided, further, that original mammograms, rather than copies 27 thereof, shall be released and delivered. Either the physician or hospi- 28 tal incurring the expense of providing copies of x-rays, medical records 29 and test records including all laboratory tests pursuant to the 30 provisions of this section may impose a reasonable charge to be paid by 31 the person requesting the release and deliverance of such records as 32 reimbursement for such expenses, provided, however, that the physician 33 or hospital may not impose a charge for copying an original mammogram 34 when the original has been released or delivered to any competent 35 patient, parent or guardian of an infant, a guardian appointed pursuant 36 to article eighty-one of the mental hygiene law, or a conservator of a 37 conservatee and provided, further, that any charge for delivering an 38 original mammogram pursuant to this section shall not exceed the docu- 39 mented costs associated therewith. However, the reasonable charge for 40 paper copies shall not exceed seventy-five cents per page. A release of 41 records under this section shall not be denied solely because of inabil- 42 ity to pay. No charge may be imposed under this section for providing, 43 releasing, or delivering medical records or copies of medical records 44 where requested for the purpose of supporting an application, claim or 45 appeal for any government benefit or program, provided that, where a 46 provider maintains medical records in electronic form, it shall provide 47 the copy in either electronic or paper form, as required by the govern- 48 ment benefit or program, or at the patient's request. 49 § 3. Paragraph (i) of subdivision 3 of section 18 of the public health 50 law, as added by chapter 634 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as 51 follows: 52 (i) The release of patient information shall be subject to: (i) arti- 53 cle twenty-seven-F of this chapter in the case of confidential HIV-re- 54 lated information; (ii) section seventeen of this article and sections 55 [twenty-three hundred one,] twenty-three hundred six and twenty-three 56 hundred eight of this chapter in the case of termination of a pregnancy, 
 A. 6866 3 1 and care and treatment for a sexually transmitted disease; (iii) article 2 thirty-three of the mental hygiene law; and (iv) any other provisions of 3 law creating special requirements relating to the release of patient 4 information, including the federal health insurance portability and 5 accountability act of 1996 and its implementing regulations. 6 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.