ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2961
(By Delegates Amores, Ashley, Azinger, Beane and Martin)
[Passed March 13, 1999; in effect ninety days from passage.]
AN ACT to amend article three, chapter thirty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated section ten-a; and to
amend article fourteen of said chapter by adding thereto a new
section, designated section twelve-b, all relating to
establishing a special volunteer medical license for retired
or retiring physicians treating indigents and the needy
without compensation; providing for issuance without payment
of fees; specifying requirements of license; providing for
civil immunity for voluntary medical services rendered to
indigents; limitations thereon; and required insurance
coverage.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That article three, chapter thirty of the code of West
Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, be
amended by adding thereto a new section, designated section ten-a;
and that article fourteen of said chapter be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated section twelve-b, all to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 3. WEST VIRGINIA MEDICAL PRACTICE ACT.
§30-3-10a. Special volunteer medical license; civil immunity for
voluntary services rendered to indigents.
(a) There is hereby established a special volunteer medical
license for physicians retired or retiring from the active practice
of medicine who wish to donate their expertise for the medical care
and treatment of indigent and needy patients in the clinic setting
of clinics organized, in whole or in part, for the delivery of
health care services without charge. The special volunteer medical
license shall be issued by the West Virginia board of medicine to
physicians licensed or otherwise eligible for licensure under this
article and the rules promulgated hereunder without the payment of
any application fee, license fee or renewal fee, shall be issued
for a fiscal year or part thereof, and shall be renewable annually.
The board shall develop application forms for the special license
provided for in this subsection which shall contain the physician's
acknowledgment that: (1) The physician's practice under the special
volunteer medical license will be exclusively and totally devoted to providing medical care to needy and indigent persons in West
Virginia; (2) the physician will not receive any payment or
compensation, either direct or indirect, or have the expectation of
any payment or compensation, for any medical services rendered
under the special volunteer medical license; (3) the physician will
supply any supporting documentation that the board may reasonably
require; and (4) the physician agrees to continue to participate in
continuing medical education as required of physicians in active
practice.
(b)
Any physician who renders any medical service to indigent
and needy patients of a clinic organized, in whole or in part, for
the delivery of health care services without charge under a special
volunteer medical license authorized under subsection (a) of this
section without payment or compensation or the expectation or
promise of payment or compensation is immune from liability for any
civil action arising out of any act or omission resulting from the
rendering of the medical service at the clinic unless the act or
omission was the result of the physician's gross negligence or
willful misconduct. In order for the immunity under this subsection
to apply, there must be a written agreement between the physician
and the clinic pursuant to which the physician will provide
voluntary noncompensated medical services under the control of the
clinic to patients of the clinic before the rendering of any
services by the physician at the clinic:
Provided, That any clinic entering into such written agreement shall be required to maintain
liability coverage of not less than one million dollars per
occurrence.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, a clinic organized, in whole or in part, for the delivery
of health care services without charge shall not be relieved from
imputed liability for the negligent acts of a physician rendering
voluntary medical services at or for the clinic under a special
volunteer medical license authorized under subsection (a) of this
section.
(d) For purposes of this section, "otherwise eligible for
licensure" means the satisfaction of all the requirements for
licensure as listed in section ten of this article and in the
legislative rules promulgated hereunder, except the fee
requirements of subsections (b) and (d) of said section and of the
legislative rule promulgated by the board relating to fees.
(e) Nothing in this section may be construed as requiring the
board to issue a special volunteer medical license to any physician
whose medical license is or has been subject to any disciplinary
action or to any physician who has surrendered a medical license or
caused such license to lapse, expire and become invalid in lieu of
having a complaint initiated or other action taken against his or
her medical license, or who has elected to place a medical license
in inactive status in lieu of having a complaint initiated or other action taken against his or her medical license, or who have been
denied a medical license.
(f) Any policy or contract of liability insurance providing
coverage for liability sold, issued or delivered in this state to
any physician covered under the provisions of this article shall be
read so as to contain a provision or endorsement whereby the
company issuing such policy waives or agrees not to assert as a
defense on behalf of the policyholder or any beneficiary thereof,
to any claim covered by the terms of such policy within the policy
limits, the immunity from liability of the insured by reason of the
care and treatment of needy and indigent patients by a physician
who holds a special volunteer medical license.
ARTICLE 14. OSTEOPATHIC PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS.
§30-14-12b. Special volunteer medical license; civil immunity for
voluntary services rendered to indigents.
(a) There is hereby established a special volunteer medical
license for physicians retired or retiring from the active practice
of osteopathy who wish to donate their expertise for the medical
care and treatment of indigent and needy patients in the clinic
patients of clinics organized, in whole or in part, for the
delivery of health care services without charge. The special
volunteer medical license shall be issued by the West Virginia
board of osteopathy to physicians licensed or otherwise eligible
for licensure under this article and the rules promulgated hereunder without the payment of any application fee, license fee
or renewal fee, shall be issued for a fiscal year or part thereof,
and shall be renewable annually. The board shall develop
application forms for the special license provided for in this
subsection which shall contain the physician's acknowledgment that:
(1) The physician's practice under the special volunteer medical
license will be exclusively and totally devoted to providing
medical care to needy and indigent persons in West Virginia; (2)
the physician will not receive any payment or compensation, either
direct or indirect, or have the expectation of any payment or
compensation, for any medical services rendered under the special
volunteer medical license; (3) the physician will supply any
supporting documentation that the board may reasonably require; and
(4) that the physician agrees to continue to participate in
continuing medical education as required of physicians in active
practice.
(b) Any physician who renders any medical service to indigent
and needy patients of clinics organized, in whole or in part, for
the delivery of health care services without charge under a special
volunteer medical license authorized under subsection (a) of this
section without payment or compensation or the expectation or
promise of payment or compensation is immune from liability for any
civil action arising out of any act or omission resulting from the
rendering of the medical service at the clinic unless the act or omission was the result of the physician's gross negligence or
willful misconduct. In order for the immunity under this subsection
to apply, there must be a written agreement between the physician
and the clinic pursuant to which the physician will provide
voluntary noncompensated medical services under the control of the
clinic to patients of the clinic before the rendering of any
services by the physician at the clinic:
Provided, That any clinic
entering into such written agreement shall be required to maintain
liability coverage of not less than one million dollars per
occurrence.
(c) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (a) of this
section, a clinic organized, in whole or in part, for the delivery
of health care services without charge shall not be relieved from
imputed liability for the negligent acts of a physician rendering
voluntary medical services at or for the clinic under a special
volunteer medical license authorized under subsection (a) of this
section.
(d) For purposes of this section, "otherwise eligible for
licensure" means the satisfaction of all the requirements for
licensure as listed in section ten of this article and in the
legislative rules promulgated hereunder, except the fee
requirements of subsections (b) and (d) of said section and of the
legislative rule promulgated by the board relating to fees.
(e) Nothing in this section may be construed as requiring the board to issue a special volunteer medical license to any physician
whose medical license is or has been subject to any disciplinary
action or to any physician who has surrendered a medical license or
caused such license to lapse, expire and become invalid in lieu of
having a complaint initiated or other action taken against his or
her medical license, or who has elected to place a medical license
in inactive status in lieu of having a complaint initiated or other
action taken against his or her medical license, or who have been
denied a medical license.
(f) Any policy or contract of liability insurance providing
coverage for liability sold, issued or delivered in this state to
any physician covered under the provisions of this article shall be
read so as to contain a provision or endorsement the company
issuing such policy waives or agrees not to assert as a defense on
behalf of the policyholder or any beneficiary thereof, to any claim
covered by the terms of such policy within the policy limits, the
immunity from liability of the insured by reason of the care and
treatment of needy and indigent patients by a physician who holds
a special volunteer medical license.