Andrew Kearse Accountability for Denial of Medical Care Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 7268 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 18, 2020 Ms. PRESSLEY (for herself, Ms. OMAR, Ms. HAALAND, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. NORTON, Mr. ENGEL, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. MCEACHIN, Mr. KENNEDY, Ms. TLAIB, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY of New York, and Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was 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 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7268.IH H7268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 7268 IH 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 a Federal 18 law enforcement officer (as defined in section 115) 19 or an officer or employee of the Bureau of Prisons; 20 and 21 ‘‘(3) the term ‘medical distress’ includes breath- 22 ing difficulties. 23 ‘‘(b) REQUIREMENT.— 24 ‘‘(1) OFFENSE.—It shall be unlawful for a cov- 25 ered official to negligently fail to obtain or provide 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7268.IH H7268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 7268 IH immediate medical attention to an individual in Fed- 1 eral custody who displays medical distress in the 2 presence of the covered official, if the individual suf- 3 fers unnecessary pain, injury, or death as a result of 4 that failure. 5 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—A covered official who violates 6 paragraph (1) shall be fined under this title, impris- 7 oned for not more than 1 year, or both. 8 ‘‘(3) STATE CIVIL ENFORCEMENT.—Whenever 9 an attorney general of a State has reasonable cause 10 to believe that a resident of the State has been ag- 11 grieved by a violation of paragraph (1) by a covered 12 official, the attorney general, or another official, 13 agency, or entity designated by the State, may bring 14 a civil action in any appropriate district court of the 15 United States to obtain appropriate equitable and 16 declaratory relief. 17 ‘‘(c) INSPECTOR GENERAL INVESTIGATION.— 18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The appropriate Inspector 19 General shall investigate any instance in which— 20 ‘‘(A) a covered official fails to obtain or 21 provide immediate medical attention to an indi- 22 vidual in Federal custody who displays medical 23 distress in the presence of the covered official; 24 and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7268.IH H7268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 7268 IH ‘‘(B) the individual suffers unnecessary 1 pain, injury, or death as a result of the failure 2 to obtain or provide immediate medical atten- 3 tion. 4 ‘‘(2) REFERRAL FOR PROSECUTION.—If an In- 5 spector General, in conducting an investigation 6 under paragraph (1), concludes that the covered offi- 7 cial acted negligently in failing to obtain or provide 8 immediate medical attention to the individual in 9 Federal custody, the Inspector General shall refer 10 the case to the Attorney General for prosecution 11 under this section. 12 ‘‘(3) CONFIDENTIAL COMPLAINT PROCESS.— 13 The Inspector General of a Federal agency that em- 14 ploys covered officials shall establish a process under 15 which an individual may confidentially submit a 16 complaint to the Inspector General regarding an in- 17 cident described in paragraph (1) involving a covered 18 official employed by the Federal agency (or, in the 19 case of the Inspector General of the Department of 20 Justice, involving a covered official employed by a 21 Federal agency that does not have an Inspector Gen- 22 eral). 23 ‘‘(d) TRAINING.—The head of an agency that em- 24 ploys covered officials shall provide training to each such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7268.IH H7268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 7268 IH covered official on obtaining or providing medical assist- 1 ance to individuals in medical distress.’’. 2 (b) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMENDMENT.— 3 The table of sections for 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 custody displaying medical distress.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:18 Jul 10, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H7268.IH H7268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS