On a somewhat related matter.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, you often heard the phrase health care heroes to describe doctors, nurses and other clinicians.

Now, state lawmakers in Frankfurt are discussing a bill that protects these heroes even when they make mistakes.

Our Clayton Dalton has more in this report.

Doctors and nurses make mistakes, and sometimes those decisions lead to a patient's sickness or death.

Should health care workers be criminally charged for genuine mistakes?

House Bill 159, sponsored by House Majority Whip Jason Nemeth, says no.

What this would say is effectively, if a nurse or another health care worker made a mistake, that they wouldn't be criminally liable.

There could be someone who's given the wrong medication, obviously not intentionally.

If that was intentional, that's a crime.

But if it were a mistake, that's something that there could still be civil liability.

The person could still lose their job, maybe should lose their job on the right circumstances.

But that's not a crime.

State Representative Lindsey Burke, a Democrat from Lexington and staunch supporter of abortion rights, chimed in.

Doctors in Kentucky are often reticent to perform legal life saving abortions for a mother who's in critical condition.

Would this bill provide any coverage for a doctor who was acting in that limited capacity where the mother's life was at stake?

To protect the doctor from any criminal liability.

Linda Robinson, a registered nurse from northern Kentucky, responded.

Well, this addresses more process type errors, mistakes that wouldn't be a mistake.

That's a treatment call.

And that that is not addressed in this.

That would be that doctor's medical opinion or call not to do that type of a treatment.

This wouldn't be that would not be considered a mistake.

Okay.

The reason I'm asking is I think that's the the situation that doctors who are providing are reticent to provide this type of treatment, are worried about that their medical judgment would be questioned and they would be treated as though they had made a mistake, even though they were acting what they thought was appropriate medical treatment.

So you don't believe that there's an overlap here?

I think I've not looked at it.

I'm not thought about this in in that context.

I think Kentucky law allows obviously, for a procedure to save the life of the mother or for serious health consequence.

This doesn't affect that in any way.

Name is clarified that this bill is intended to protect hands on clinicians and not health care administrators and executives.

House Bill 159 passed out of committee with bipartisan support, with one Democrat and one Republican registered in a passed vote.

The bill's next stop is the House floor for full consideration.

For Kentucky edition, I'm Clayton Dalton.