Bill > H4009

This bill seeks to establish the South Carolina Medical Freedom Act, a comprehensive legislative measure designed to protect individuals' rights to refuse medical procedures, treatments, and vaccines without facing discrimination. The bill stems from the legislature's critical view of COVID-19 vaccination campaigns, which they argue involved coercive propaganda and unjust mandates that led to employment terminations and denied public accommodations. The act provides robust protections for healthcare professionals, ensuring they cannot be disciplined for voicing concerns about medical mandates, advocating for patients' rights, or disclosing potential unethical practices. Key provisions include guaranteeing individuals' right to refuse medical interventions without losing access to public services, protecting healthcare professionals from licensure revocation or professional penalties for speaking out, and creating a legal pathway for professionals to seek injunctive relief and damages if they experience retaliation. The bill also mandates that any regulatory actions against healthcare professionals must undergo expedited judicial review, with the burden of proof resting on the regulatory body to demonstrate that their actions were not retaliatory. Essentially, the legislation aims to preserve medical autonomy, protect professional free speech in healthcare, and prevent what the bill's authors characterize as governmental or institutional overreach in medical decision-making.

Health and Social Services

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=4009&session=126&summary=B