A state House committee began hearings on a package of bills that have been inspired in the wake of the Larry Nassar abuse scandal.
The goal is to protect patients from sexual misconduct.
The state House’s Law and Justice Committee are conducting hearings on a package of 17 Larry bills.
Lawmakers spearheaded this to figure out what exactly went wrong when Michigan State University handled the Nassar case and how to never let the abuse happen again.
Rep. Klint Kesto (R-Commerce) said, “We are here today obviously because of actions of one individual that may be out there, that we don’t know about.”
Committee members listened to testimony, explaining why such laws are needed. Some of the bills the committee considered Tuesday would require parental consent before minors had procedures performed in sensitive areas.
Another bill would require procedures involving vaginal or anal penetration to be documented in a patient's file and retained for 15 years.
Two bills would change how doctors are accused of wrongdoing are investigated and disciplined.
“We need to hold these people accountable and we need to do it as quickly as possible,” explained Rep. Daire Rendon (R-Lake City).
The bills will be voted on after all Nassar-inspired legislation has been testified to the House committee.
Some medical professionals say they are concerned the bills will over-regulate doctors.
Family practitioner Dr. Rose Ramirez said, “There could be a lot of unintended consequences when we are talking about the clinical care of patients and the documentation of that care.”
Today, the committee had hearings on seven bills . They will pick up testimony on six more bills tomorrow afternoon.
