Kansans for Life applauds the Kansas Senate Federal and State Affairs chair, Jacob LaTurner (R-Pittsburg), and members of the committee for advancing an amended version of SB 85, Simon’s Law, to the full Senate for consideration.
SB 85 requires that:
- parents receive written and oral notification before any DNR is placed in their child’s medical file–which they have the right to refuse;
- any patient or prospective patient has the right to review existent medical facility “futility” policies governing the supply or denial of resuscitation and life sustaining treatments.
The legislation is named after Simon Crosier, who had Trisomy 18, a chromosomal condition. Simon died after he was denied resuscitation at just three months of life.
Later, the Crosiers discovered to their shock and horror, that a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate Order) had been placed in the infant’s medical file without his parents’ knowledge or consent.
Introduced late in the Kansas legislative session last year, Simon’s Law passed the Kansas Senate 33-7 but was too short on time to work through the House process. Mary Kay Culp, KFL Executive Director, said,
“Simon’s Law establishes a significant advance toward protecting medically fragile children from discrimination and secures the rights of all parents to be fully informed decision-makers when their child’s life is at stake.”
Heart-breaking testimony supporting SB 85 has come not only from the Crosier extended family in Kansas, but from other families across the nation whose children were issued DNRs without full parental input. Pediatric specialists, national medical groups, and members of the disability rights community testified in support of Simon’s Law.
KFL thanks the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee for their work and urges the full Senate to quickly take the matter up for consideration.
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If approved by the Senate, Simon’s Law will go to the House for further consideration. House members already are enthusiastic about passage of Simon’s Law and have filed a companion bill, HB 2307, with 30 co-sponsors.
LifeNews.com Note: Kathy Ostrowski is the legislative director for Kansans for Life, the state affiliate to the National Right to Life Committee.
