1268 AMH BAIL BLAC 053

HB 1268 - H AMD

By Representative Bailey

   On page 4, line 11, after "(1)" strike all material through "act." on page 6, line 4 and insert the following:

   "A health care provider delivering fertility treatment must provide his or her patient with timely, relevant, and appropriate information to allow the patient to make an informed and voluntary choice about the disposition of any human embryos in the blastocyst stage of development remaining following the fertility treatment.

   (2) Any person to whom information is provided pursuant to subsection (1) of this section must be presented with the option of storing any unused embryos in the blastocyst stage of development, donating unused embryos in the blastocyst stage of development to another individual, discarding unused embryos in the blastocyst stage of development, or donating unused embryos in the blastocyst stage of development for research. When providing fertility treatment, the health care provider must provide a form to the male and female partner, or the person without a partner, as applicable, that sets forth advanced written directives regarding the disposition of unused embryos in the blastocyst stage of development. The form must indicate the time limit on storage of the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development at the clinic or storage facility and provide, at a minimum, the following choices for disposition of the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development based on the following circumstances:

   (a) Upon written notice of the death of a patient or patient's partner, the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development must be disposed of by one of the following actions:

   (i) Making the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development available to the living partner, if any;

   (ii) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development for research purposes;

   (iii) Thawing the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development without any further action;

   (iv) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development to another person; or

   (v) Disposing of the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development in any other clearly stated method;

   (b) Upon written notice of the separation or divorce of the partners, the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development must be disposed of by any of the following actions:

   (i) Making the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development available to the female partner;

   (ii) Making the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development available to the male partner;

   (iii) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development for research purposes;

   (iv) Thawing the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development without any further action;

   (v) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development to another person; or

   (vi) Disposing of the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development in any other clearly stated method; and

   (c) Upon the partners' decision, or the decision of a patient who is without a partner, to abandon the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development by written request or a failure to pay storage fees, the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development must be disposed of by one of the following actions:

   (i) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development for research purposes;

   (ii) Thawing the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development without any further action;

   (iii) Donating the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development to another person; or

   (iv) Disposing of the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development in any other clearly stated method.

   (3) A health care provider delivering fertility treatment must obtain written consent from any person who elects to donate embryos in the blastocyst stage of development remaining after fertility treatment for research. To obtain informed consent, the health care provider must provide the following information to the person that:

   (a) The early human embryos in the blastocyst stage of development will be used to derive human pluripotent stem cells for research and that the cells may be used, at some future time, for human transplantation research;

   (b) Information that would permit the donor to be individually identified will be removed before deriving human embryonic stem cell lines;

   (c) Donors will not receive any information about subsequent testing on the embryos in the blastocyst stage of development or the derived human pluripotent cells;

   (d) Derived cells or cell lines may be kept for many years;

   (e) The donor material may have commercial potential, and the donor will not receive financial or any other benefits from any future commercial development;

   (f) The human pluripotent stem cell research is not intended to provide direct medical benefit to the donor; and

   (g) Human embryos in the blastocyst stage of development donated for research will not be transferred to a woman's uterus and will be destroyed during the stem cell derivation process. Research will be conducted in accordance with the advisory committee established in section 3 of this act."

EFFECT: Specifies that blastocysts are embryos in the blastocyst stage of development.