This week, the Oklahoma House passed House Bill 1600, the Lori Brand Patient Bill of Rights. The measure is meant to give patients and their families certain rights when it comes to hospital stays and the information shared to help make decisions.
House Bill 1600 is named after Lori Brand, who was hospitalized during the COVID-19 Pandemic but did not have the virus. Her family was not allowed to stay with Brand to help inform hospital staff of her medical condition. Brand’s condition got worse and she passed away.
Brand’s widower, Gerald Brand has been championing the Patient Bill of Rights passing the Oklahoma Legislature for the past three years.
“This bill will give people the rights that they deserve when they’re in the hospital and your loved ones will not be left alone while they’re in the hospital.
“The bill still has a long way to go. It has to go through the Senate now. I believe the bill has the support this time to make it to the Governor’s desk but still people need to call their state senators and ask them to support the bill,” Brand told The McCarville Report.
The House approved HB 1600 by a margin of 84 to ten. It how heads to the Oklahoma Senate.
