Free Speech Protection For Health Care Providers

TITLE 54 PROFESSIONS, VOCATIONS, AND BUSINESSES CHAPTER 13 MEDICAL ETHICS DEFENSE ACT 54-1306. free speech protection for health care providers. (1) The department of health and welfare, the state board of medicine, or any other department or board regulating the practice of a medical procedure, treatment, or service in the state may not reprimand or sanction a health care provider or deny or revoke or threaten to deny or revoke a license, certification, or registration of a health care provider for engaging in speech, expression, or association that is protected from government interference by the first amendment to the United States constitution, unless the department or board demonstrates by clear and convincing evidence that the health care provider’s speech, expression, or association was the direct cause of physical harm to a person with whom the health care provider had a practitioner-patient relationship within the three (3) years immediately preceding the incident of physical harm. (2)  The department of health and welfare, the state board of medicine, or any other department or board regulating the practice of a medical procedure, treatment, or service in the state shall not contract with, nor shall it recognize, approve, or require an individual to obtain certifications or credentials issued or approved by, a specialty board or other recognizing agency that revokes the certification of, or refuses to issue certification to, an individual because the individual has engaged in speech, expression, or association that is protected from government interference by the first amendment to the United States constitution, provided such individual was not providing medical advice or treatment to a specific patient. (3)  The department of health and welfare, the state board of medicine, or any other department or board regulating the practice of a medical procedure, treatment, or service in the state shall provide a health care provider with any complaints it has received that are based on speech, expression, or association that is protected from government interference by the first amendment to the United States constitution and may result in the revocation of the health care provider’s license, certification, or registration, within twenty-one (21) days after receipt of the complaint. The department or board shall pay the health care provider an administrative penalty of five hundred dollars ($500) for each day the complaint is not provided to the health care provider after the specified twenty-one (21) days.