S 6223: Requires hospitals to permit an interpreter to remain with a deaf, hard of hearing or nonverbal patient during admission to a hospital until appropriate hospital staff is assigned to interpret.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6223 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE March 6, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. C. RYAN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Health AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to treatment of deaf, hard of hearing and nonverbal individuals during admission to a hospi- tal The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 2805-r of the public health law, as added by chap- 2 ter 451 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows: 3 § 2805-r. Patients unable to hear or verbally communicate. 1. The 4 department shall make regulations concerning the treatment of general 5 hospital patients who are unable to hear or verbally communicate, for 6 whatever reason, with a health care practitioner or aide. 7 2. Such regulations shall establish standards for a deaf, hard of 8 hearing or nonverbal patient to have present during [his or her] their 9 period of admission a parent, guardian, representative, interpreter or 10 authorized helper to assist in the communication with health care 11 personnel. Such person shall be permitted to remain with the patient for 12 interpretation until a hospital-provided certified interpreter, or other 13 qualified person is assigned to the patient. 14 3. The standards established under this section shall be incorporated 15 into the statement of rights and responsibilities adopted pursuant to 16 paragraph (g) of subdivision one of section twenty-eight hundred three 17 of this article. 18 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD05040-01-5