HBA-NIK H.B. 3564 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3564 By: Najera Civil Practices 4/19/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Medical doctors, usually psychiatrists, use an electrical device designed, manufactured, used or intended to be used for the purpose of inducing a motor seizure to administer a treatment known as electroconvulsive or electroshock therapy. The treatment involves passing an electrical current through the brain of the recipient by the use of electrodes placed over both temples (bilateral shock) or over one side of the head (unilateral shock) to produce a grand mal or major epileptic seizure. The shock alters the normal electrical patterns in the brain. The Texas Medical Association and the Texas Psychiatric Association claim that this treatment is beneficial to consumers suffering from depression for whom medication or psychotherapy is not effective. Muscle spasms occurring during the transmission of the electrical current may be sufficiently violent to crack vertebrae and break limb bones. To subdue the body's violent muscle spasms, the person undergoing the induction of electricity to the brain must be given anesthesia containing neuromuscular blockades in order to obstruct the generation of convulsions. The impact of the treatment on the brain and the body as a whole is directly affected by the ability of health care professionals to manage the interaction of the variety of centrally acting neuromuscular blocks with the circulatory effects that occur with the passage of electricity through the body. Currently, Texas consumers who may suffer brain damage or physical injury as a result of electroshock therapy are unable to seek redress for their injuries in Texas courts to seek redress for their injuries. H.B. 3564 entitles such a consumer to take action against any person, partnership, corporation, or association within a given amount of time. This bill also redefines the terms "device" and "consumer." RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Subchapter D, Chapter 35, Business & Commerce Code, by adding Section 35.55, as follows: Sec. 35.55. DEVICES USED TO APPLY ELECTRIC CURRENT. (a) Defines "device" and "consumer." (b) Entitles a consumer whose mental faculties have been diminished or impaired, or who has suffered physical injury to or impairment of an internal body organ, as a result of the use of a device to seek, against any person, partnership, corporation, or association that used or employed, or caused to be used or employed, or participated substantially in a decision to use or employ, the device on the consumer, those remedies provided for in Section 17.50 (Relief for Consumers), Business & Commerce Code. Prohibits the exemption provided for in Section 17.49 (Exemptions), Business & Commerce Code, from applying to an action brought under this subsection. (c) Provides that an action brought under this subchapter must be commenced within two years after the date on which the device was used or employed on the consumer, or within two years after the consumer discovered, or in the exercise of reasonable diligence should have discovered, that the consumer's mental faculties had become diminished or impaired or that the consumer suffered physical injury or impairment as a result of the use of a device. SECTION 2. Emergency clause. Effective date: upon passage.