House Bill 149

Create new sections of KRS Chapter 311 to define terms; establish a qualified terminally ill individual's right to voluntarily request medication to self-administer to cause death; require conditions for making request; permit individual to rescind request at any time; permit an attending health care provider to provide medication; establish requirements for attending health care provider to inform individuals and document request; require disposal of unused medications; establish residency requirements for qualified individuals; require report by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services; establish provisions for contracts, insurance policies, and beneficiaries; state that a health care provider is not required to provide medication to a qualified individual; permit health care providers to prohibit persons or entities from participating in a qualified individual's request during or on the premises of employment; prohibit reporting a health care provider to a licensing board for participating in a qualified individual's request; state that actions do not constitute suicide or homicide; create a form for a qualified individual to make a request; create a new section of Subchapter 12 of KRS Chapter 304 to establish provisions for insurance policies and beneficiaries of qualified individuals; amend KRS 507.020 and KRS 507.030 to create an affirmative defense to a charge of murder and manslaughter in the first degree; provide a severability clause; create the short title, the "Kentucky Our Care, Our Options Act."