Title 41, Public Health

The following form may be used to create an Advance Health-Care Directive. Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-207 and 41-41-211 through 41-41-229 govern the effect of this or any other writing used to create an advanced health-care directive. An individual may complete or modify al…

(1) A surrogate may make a health-care decision for a patient who is an adult or emancipated minor if the patient has been determined by the primary physician to lack capacity and no agent or guardian has been appointed or the agent or guardian is not reasonably available. (2) An…

(1) A guardian shall comply with the ward’s individual instructions and may not revoke the ward’s advance health-care directive unless the appointing court expressly so authorizes. (2) Absent a court order to the contrary, a health-care decision of an agent takes precedence over …

(1) Before implementing a health-care decision made for a patient, a supervising health-care provider, if possible, shall promptly communicate to the patient the decision made and the identity of the person making the decision. (2) A supervising health-care provider who knows of …

Unless otherwise specified in an advance health-care directive, a person then authorized to make health-care decisions for a patient has the same rights as the patient to request, receive, examine, copy and consent to the disclosure of medical or any other health-care information…

(1) Except as otherwise provided in Title 41, Chapter 141, Mississippi Code of 1972, a health care provider or institution acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health care standards applicable to the health care provider or institution is not subject to …

(1) A health-care provider or institution that intentionally violates Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229 is subject to liability to the aggrieved individual for damages of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or actual damages resulting from the violation, whichever is greater, plus …

(1) Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229 do not affect the right of an individual to make health-care decisions while having capacity to do so. (2) An individual is presumed to have capacity to make a health-care decision, to give or revoke an advance health-care directive, and t…

A copy of a written advance health-care directive, revocation of an advance health-care directive, or designation or disqualification of a surrogate has the same effect as the original.

(1) Sections 41-41-201 through 41-41-229 do not create a presumption concerning the intention of an individual who has not made or who has revoked an advance health-care directive. (2) Death resulting from the withholding or withdrawal of health care in accordance with Sections 4…

On petition of a patient, the patient’s agent, guardian, or surrogate, a health-care provider or institution involved with the patient’s care, or an individual described in Section 41-41-211(2) or (3), any court of competent jurisdiction may enjoin or direct a health-care decisio…

(1) It is hereby recognized and established that, in addition to such other persons as may be so authorized and empowered, any one (1) of the following persons who is reasonably available, in descending order of priority, is authorized and empowered to consent on behalf of an une…

Sections 41-41-301 through 41-41-303 shall be known and may be cited as the “Mississippi Physician Order for Sustaining Treatment (POST) Act.”

(1) A physician order for sustaining treatment (POST) directing health care in the standardized form provided by this section may be executed by the primary physician of an individual and:(a) The individual, if an adult or emancipated minor with capacity; or(b) The agent, guardia…

(1) A physician or health-care provider acting in good faith and in accordance with generally accepted health-care standards applicable to the physician or health-care provider is not subject to civil or criminal liability or to discipline for unprofessional conduct for:(a) Execu…

(a) The following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed in this section unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:(a) “Abortion” means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug or any other substance or device to terminate the pregnancy of a woma…

(1) No abortion shall be performed or induced except with the voluntary and informed consent of the woman upon whom the abortion is to be performed or induced. Except in the case of a medical emergency, consent to an abortion is voluntary and informed if and only if:(a) The woman…

(1) Before the performance of an abortion, as defined in Section 41-41-45, the physician who is to perform the abortion, or a qualified person assisting the physician, shall:(a) Perform fetal ultrasound imaging and auscultation of fetal heart tone services on the patient undergoi…

(1) As used in this section:(a) “Fetal heartbeat” means cardiac activity or the steady and repetitive rhythmic contraction of the fetal heart within the gestational sac.(b) “Physician” means a person licensed to practice medicine under Section 73-25-1 et seq.(c) “Unborn human ind…

(1) The State Department of Health shall cause to be published in English within sixty (60) days after July 1, 1991, the following easily comprehensible printed materials:(a) Geographically indexed materials designed to inform the woman of public and private agencies and services…

When a medical emergency compels the performance or induction of an abortion, the physician shall inform the woman, before the abortion if possible, of the medical indications supporting his judgment that an abortion is necessary to avert her death or for which a twenty-four-hour…

Anyone who purposefully, knowingly or recklessly performs or attempts to perform or induce an abortion without complying with Sections 41-41-31 through 41-41-37 shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00),…

Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 shall be known and may be cited as the “Life Equality Act of 2020.”

(1) The Legislature finds:(a) The United States Supreme Court has been “zealous in vindicating the rights of people even potentially subjected to race, sex, and disability discrimination.” Box v. Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky, 139 S.Ct. 1780, 1792 (2019) (Thomas J., …

(a) As used in Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419.(a) “Abortion” means the use or prescription of an instrument, medicine, drug, or other substance or device with the intent to terminate a clinically diagnosable pregnancy for reasons other than to increase the probability of a …

(1) Except in a medical emergency as defined in paragraph (j) of Section 41-41-405, a person shall not perform, induce or attempt to perform or induce an abortion unless the physician who is to perform or induce the abortion has first confirmed that the abortion is not being soug…

The department shall create the forms required by Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 within thirty (30) days after July 1, 2020. No provision of Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 requiring the reporting of information on forms published by the department shall be applicable …

(1) Any person who intentionally or knowingly violates the prohibitions in Section 41-41-407(1) and/or (2) shall be guilty of a felony and shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the custody of the Department of Corrections not less than one (1) nor more than ten (10) years. (2)…

(1) A physician who intentionally or knowingly violates the prohibitions in Section 41-41-407(1) and/or (2) commits an act of unprofessional conduct and his or her license to practice medicine in the State of Mississippi shall be suspended or revoked pursuant to action by the Mis…

The Attorney General shall have authority to bring an action in law or equity to enforce the provisions of Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 on behalf of the Director of the Mississippi State Department of Health or the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure. The Mississ…

Nothing in Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 shall be construed as creating or recognizing a right to abortion or as altering generally accepted medical standards. It is not the intention of Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 to make lawful an abortion that is otherwise unla…

(1) It is the intent of the Legislature that every provision of Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 shall operate with equal force and shall be severable one from the other and that, in the event that any provision of Sections 41-41-401 through 41-41-419 shall be held invalid or…

(1) As used in this section, the term “abortion” means the use or prescription of any instrument, medicine, drug or any other substance or device to terminate the pregnancy of a woman known to be pregnant with an intention other than to increase the probability of a live birth, t…

(a) For purposes of Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63, the following definitions shall apply:(a) “Minor” means any person under the age of eighteen (18) years;(b) “Emancipated minor” means any minor who is or has been married or has by court order or otherwise been freed from th…

(1) Except as otherwise provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, no person shall perform an abortion upon an unemancipated minor unless he or his agent first obtains the written consent of both parents or the legal guardian of the minor. (2) (a) If the minor’s parents…

(1) The requirements and procedures under Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63 shall apply and are available to minors whether or not they are residents of this state. (2) The minor may participate in proceedings in the court on her own behalf. The court shall advise her that she h…

Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63 shall not apply when, in the best clinical judgment of the physician on the facts of the case before him, a medical emergency exists that so complicates the pregnancy as to require an immediate abortion. A physician who does not comply with Sect…

If a physician performs an abortion in violation of the provisions of Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63 or fails to conform to any requirement of Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63, then his action shall be prima facie evidence of unprofessional conduct, subjecting him to action…

(1) Records and information involving court proceedings conducted pursuant to Section 41-41-55 shall be confidential and shall not be disclosed other than to the minor, her attorney and necessary court personnel. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the keeping of statistica…

If any provision, word, phrase or clause of Sections 41-41-51 through 41-41-63 or the application thereof to any person or circumstance shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the provisions, words, phrases, clauses or application of Sections 41-41-51 through 41-4…

In addition to any other instances in which a consent is excused or implied at law, a consent to surgical or medical treatment or procedures, suggested, recommended, prescribed or directed by a duly licensed physician, will be implied where an emergency exists if there has been n…

Sections 41-41-71 through 41-41-73 may be cited as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act.

(1) Any physician who knowingly performs a partial-birth abortion and thereby kills a human fetus shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than Twenty-five Thousand Dollars ($25,000.00) or imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for not more …

Sections 41-41-75 through 41-41-80 shall be known and may be cited as the Abortion Complication Reporting Act.

(a) As used in Sections 41-41-75 through 41-41-80:(a) “Abortion” has the meaning as defined in Section 41-41-31.(b) “Medical treatment” means, but is not limited to, hospitalization, laboratory tests, surgery or prescription of drugs.(c) “Department” means the State Department of…

(1) A physician shall file a written report with the State Department of Health regarding each patient who comes under the physician’s professional care and requires medical treatment or suffers death that the attending physician has a reasonable basis to believe is a primary, se…