Andrew Kearse Accountability for Denial of Medical Care Act of 2021

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1573 To require Federal law enforcement and prison officials to obtain or provide immediate medical attention to individuals in custody who display medical distress. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 11, 2021 Ms. WARREN (for herself, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. HIRONO, and Mr. MERKLEY) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require Federal law enforcement and prison officials to obtain or provide immediate medical attention to individ- uals in custody who display medical distress. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Andrew Kearse Ac- 4 countability for Denial of Medical Care Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1573 IS SEC. 2. MEDICAL ATTENTION FOR INDIVIDUALS IN FED- 1 ERAL CUSTODY DISPLAYING MEDICAL DIS- 2 TRESS. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 13 of title 18, United 4 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing: 6 ‘‘§ 250. Medical attention for individuals in Federal 7 custody displaying medical distress 8 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 9 ‘‘(1) the term ‘appropriate Inspector General’, 10 with respect to a covered official, means— 11 ‘‘(A) the Inspector General of the Federal 12 agency that employs the covered official; or 13 ‘‘(B) in the case of a covered official em- 14 ployed by a Federal agency that does not have 15 an Inspector General, the Inspector General of 16 the Department of Justice; 17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘covered official’ means— 18 ‘‘(A) a Federal law enforcement officer (as 19 defined in section 115); 20 ‘‘(B) an officer or employee of the Bureau 21 of Prisons; or 22 ‘‘(C) an officer or employee of the United 23 States Marshals Service; and 24 ‘‘(3) the term ‘medical distress’ includes breath- 25 ing difficulties. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1573 IS ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.— 1 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for a cov- 2 ered official to negligently fail to obtain or provide 3 immediate medical attention to an individual in Fed- 4 eral custody who displays medical distress in the 5 presence of the covered official, if the individual suf- 6 fers unnecessary pain, injury, or death as a result of 7 that failure. 8 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—A covered official who violates 9 paragraph (1) shall be fined under this title, impris- 10 oned for not more than 1 year, or both. 11 ‘‘(3) STATE CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.—Whenever 12 an attorney general of a State has reasonable cause 13 to believe that a resident of the State has been ag- 14 grieved by a violation of paragraph (1) by a covered 15 official, the attorney general, or another official, 16 agency, or entity designated by the State, may bring 17 a civil action in any appropriate district court of the 18 United States to obtain appropriate equitable and 19 declaratory relief. 20 ‘‘(c) INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The appropriate Inspector 22 General shall investigate any instance in which— 23 ‘‘(A) a covered official fails to obtain or 24 provide immediate medical attention to an indi- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1573 IS vidual in Federal custody who displays medical 1 distress in the presence of the covered official; 2 and 3 ‘‘(B) the individual suffers unnecessary 4 pain, injury, or death as a result of the failure 5 to obtain or provide immediate medical atten- 6 tion. 7 ‘‘(2) REFERRAL FOR PROSECUTION.—If an In- 8 spector General, in conducting an investigation 9 under paragraph (1), concludes that the covered offi- 10 cial acted negligently in failing to obtain or provide 11 immediate medical attention to the individual in 12 Federal custody, the Inspector General shall refer 13 the case to the Attorney General for prosecution 14 under this section. 15 ‘‘(3) CONFIDENTIAL COMPLAINT PROCESS.— 16 The Inspector General of a Federal agency that em- 17 ploys covered officials shall establish a process under 18 which an individual may confidentially submit a 19 complaint to the Inspector General regarding an in- 20 cident described in paragraph (1) involving a covered 21 official employed by the Federal agency (or, in the 22 case of the Inspector General of the Department of 23 Justice, involving a covered official employed by a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1573 IS Federal agency that does not have an Inspector Gen- 1 eral). 2 ‘‘(d) TRAINING.—The head of an agency that em- 3 ploys covered officials shall provide training to each such 4 covered official on obtaining or providing medical assist- 5 ance to individuals in medical distress.’’. 6 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 7 The table of sections for chapter 13 of title 18, United 8 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 9 lowing: 10 ‘‘250. Medical attention for individuals in Federal custody displaying medical distress.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:33 May 26, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1573.IS S1573 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS