Bill > S869

This bill updates Massachusetts law to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities in healthcare settings, focusing on how medical resources are allocated and treatments are provided. Specifically, the bill prohibits public and private healthcare entities from making treatment decisions based on presumptions about the quality of life or worth of individuals with disabilities or chronic health conditions. It bars implementing healthcare resource distribution plans that would deny or reduce priority for lifesaving treatment due to a person's disability. The bill allows for considering an individual's short-term survival prospects when prioritizing care, but forbids using metrics that assign lower value to life extension for people with pre-existing disabilities. Additionally, the legislation prevents healthcare providers from conditioning treatment on having do-not-resuscitate orders or advance directives, and from discriminating against patients based on such documents. The bill requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to create regulations implementing these protections within 60 days of the law taking effect, and it updates existing legal language by replacing the term "handicap" with "disability" to use more respectful terminology. The goal is to ensure equal access to medical care and prevent potential bias against people with disabilities during medical decision-making.

Health and Social Services

https://malegislature.gov/Bills/194/S869