PRINTER'S NO. 2350
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE BILL
No.
1871
Session of
2023
INTRODUCED BY BOROWSKI, C. WILLIAMS, PROBST, HILL-EVANS,
T. DAVIS, MADDEN, CURRY, SHUSTERMAN, KAZEEM, DALEY AND KHAN,
NOVEMBER 30, 2023
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, NOVEMBER 30, 2023
AN ACT
Providing for duty of primary care providers to provide
information on sudden unexpected death in epilepsy and for
duties of Department of Health.
This act may be referred to as Morgan Rose's Law.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Short title.
This act shall be known and may be cited as the Sudden
Unexpected Death in Epilepsy Awareness Act.
Section 2. Definitions.
The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Department." The Department of Health of the Commonwealth.
"Epilepsy." A disorder of the brain characterized by
repeated seizures.
"Patient." An individual who is under the medical care of a
primary care provider.
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"Primary care provider." A health care provider who, within
the scope of the health care provider's practice, supervises,
coordinates, prescribes or otherwise provides or proposes to
provide health care services to a patient and maintains
continuity of care for the patient.
"Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy" or "SUDEP." A death in
a patient previously diagnosed with epilepsy that is not due to
trauma, drowning, status epilepticus or other known causes and
for which there is often evidence of an associated seizure.
Section 3. Duty of primary care providers to provide
information on SUDEP.
A primary care provider who manages the ongoing care of a
patient shall have the following duties:
(1) Provide the patient or the patient's parent,
guardian or caregiver with a fact sheet on SUDEP that
includes statistics related to epilepsy and SUDEP, associated
risks of epilepsy and information regarding the prevention of
SUDEP.
(2) Provide the patient or the patient's parent,
guardian or caregiver with a resource list of the names,
addresses and telephone numbers of professional organizations
that provide information and services related to SUDEP,
including the North American SUDEP Registry, the Epilepsy
Foundation and SUDEP - Epilepsy Alliance America.
(3) Document in the patient's medical record that the
patient received the fact sheet and resource list under
paragraphs (1) and (2).
Section 4. Duties of department.
The department shall have the following duties:
(1) Promulgate regulations as necessary to implement
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this act.
(2) Enforce this act and the regulations promulgated
under this act.
(3) Make available a printable fact sheet and resource
list as specified under section 3(1) and (2) on the
department's publicly accessible Internet website.
(4) Update the printable fact sheet and resource list
under paragraph (3) as the department deems necessary to
implement this act.
Section 5. Effective date.
This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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