BILL NUMBER: AB 1703	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Santiago

                        JANUARY 25, 2016

   An act to amend Section 4011.5 of the Penal Code, relating to
inmates.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1703, as introduced, Santiago. Inmates: medical treatment.
   Existing law authorizes a court, when an inmate requires medical
or surgical treatment necessitating hospitalization that cannot be
furnished at the jail, to order the removal of the inmate to a
hospital, as specified. Existing law authorizes a sheriff or jailer
who determines that a prisoner in a city or county jail under his or
her charge is in need of immediate medical or hospital care, and that
the health and welfare of the prisoner will be injuriously affected
unless the prisoner is forthwith removed to a hospital, to authorize
the immediate removal of the prisoner under guard to a hospital,
without first obtaining a court order.
   This bill would specify that "immediate medical or hospital care"
includes, but is not limited to, critical specialty medical
procedures or treatment, such as dialysis, which cannot be furnished,
performed, or supplied at a city or county jail.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 4011.5 of the Penal Code is amended to read:
   4011.5.   Whenever it appears to   (a) 
   If  a sheriff or jailer  determines 
that a prisoner in a county jail or a city jail under his  or her
 charge is in need of immediate medical or hospital care, and
that the health and welfare of the prisoner will be injuriously
affected unless  he   the prisoner  is
forthwith removed to a hospital, the sheriff or jailer may authorize
the immediate removal of the prisoner under guard to a hospital,
without first obtaining a court order as provided in Section 4011.
 In any such case, however, if   If  the
condition of the prisoner prevents his  or her  return to
the jail within 48 hours from the time of his  or her 
removal, the sheriff or jailer shall apply to a judge of the superior
court for an order authorizing the continued absence of the prisoner
from the jail in the manner provided in Section 4011. The provisions
of Section 4011 governing the cost of medical and hospital care of
prisoners and the liability  therefor,   for
those costs  shall apply to the cost of, and the liability for,
medical or hospital care of prisoners removed from jail pursuant to
this section. 
   (b) For purposes of this section, "immediate medical or hospital
care" includes, but is not limited to, critical specialty medical
procedures or treatment, such as dialysis, which cannot be furnished,
performed, or supplied at a county jail or city jail.