Requires a doctor to obtain the informed consent of patients prior to prescribing psychiatric drugs notifying the patients of possible adverse effects of the drug.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2646
SPONSOR: Blumencranz TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring notifi-
cation and the informed consent of the patient prior to prescribing
psychiatric drugs
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Requires a doctor to obtain the informed consent of patients prior to
prescribing psychiatric drugs notifying the patient of possible adverse
effects of the drug.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
The public health law is amended adding a new section 3346, which
requires doctors to have signed informed consent of the patient when
psychiatric drugs are prescribed.
JUSTIFICATION:
There are instances of psychiatric drugs being prescribed to patients
with psychiatric disorders without the patient knowing the side effects.
One such case comes from my district. A young woman being treated in a
day-time treatment center was prescribed a medication for the psychiat-
ric disorder OCD without being told the risks and serious (many times
fatal) side-effects when dosage is increased. Unfortunately she was
consistently given excessive amounts of the drug and finally overdosed
under the care of her treatment facility. She now has a Q-T prolonga-
tion in her heart, which required hospitalization for over a year and a
half.
This bill will require doctors to have signed informed consent before
subjecting psychiatric patients to medications that treat their disor-
ders and any possible drug interactions with other medications they are
currently prescribed.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.5179 of 2021/22; referred to Higher Education;
A.4495 of 2019/20; held for consideration in Higher Education;
A.2217 of 2017/2018; held for consideration in Higher Education;
A.2214 of 2015/16; held for consideration in Higher Education;
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2646
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BLUMENCRANZ -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Higher Education
AN ACT to amend the public health law, in relation to requiring notifi-
cation and the informed consent of the patient prior to prescribing
psychiatric drugs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public health law is amended by adding a new section
2 3346 to read as follows:
3 § 3346. Psychiatric drug informed consent. No doctor shall prescribe
4 an antipsychotic, antidepressant, hallucinogen, or mood stabilizer drug,
5 brand or generic, as defined in section thirty-three hundred six of this
6 article, for the treatment of psychiatric disorders or conditions with-
7 out the prior notification and the signed informed consent of the
8 patient informing the patient of any possible adverse effects of the
9 drug and the interaction with other medications the patient is currently
10 prescribed.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06905-01-3
