State Board of Education - Membership - Educational Support Member
HB0828 would amend Maryland’s resident-rights law for comprehensive care facilities and extended care facilities to create a narrow exception to the general prohibition on physical and chemical restraints. Under current law, residents have the right to be free from restraints except when a physician authorizes them for a clearly indicated medical need. This bill adds a specific hospice-care exception allowing sedatives, anti-anxiety medication, bed rails, and geri chairs when they are ordered or authorized by a prescriber and used in accordance with that order for a patient receiving hospice care.
The bill is framed as a resident-rights measure within the Health – General Article, and it would take effect October 1, 2025. Its practical effect is to clarify that certain comfort-oriented interventions used in hospice care are not treated as prohibited restraints when properly prescribed, while leaving the broader anti-restraint policy in place for other residents and circumstances.
The bill would amend Section 19–343 of the Health – General Article, which governs the basic rights of residents in comprehensive care and extended care facilities. It would not repeal the existing right to be free from physical and chemical restraints, but it would expand the list of exceptions to include specified hospice comfort measures authorized by a prescriber. The affected parties are nursing home and long-term care residents, hospice patients, prescribers, and facility operators who must align restraint policies and care practices with the revised statutory language.
Based on the bill text and the absence of recorded committee testimony or votes in the provided materials, the overall sentiment appears supportive and narrowly targeted. The measure is presented as a patient-comfort and hospice-care clarification rather than a broad policy change, suggesting an intent to resolve practical care issues in end-of-life settings while preserving resident protections.
The main point of potential contention is the balance between resident autonomy and comfort care at the end of life. Supporters would likely emphasize that hospice patients may need sedatives, anti-anxiety medication, bed rails, or geri chairs for comfort and safety, and that the bill simply makes those uses explicit when ordered by a prescriber. Critics, if any, could be concerned that expanding exceptions to the restraint ban might weaken protections against overuse or misuse of restraints in facilities, especially if implementation and documentation are not tightly controlled.