Legislation to prevent doctors from sexually abusing their patients was on the agenda at a state House committee hearing on Tuesday. These bills are part of ongoing efforts started by the legislature last year to curb sexual assault in the state.
Larry Nassar is the former Michigan State University sports doctor who sexually assaulted his patients for years. After he received a de-facto life sentence, lawmakers started to work on new legislation to prevent a similar situation from happening again.
Last year, the Legislature passed laws to change the statute of limitations and expand who can give victim impact statements. Now, lawmakers want to take away a person’s medical license if they sexually abuse a patient under the guise of treatment.
Republican Representative Daire Rendon is a bill sponsor.
“We want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can for the victims,” said Rendon.
Democratic Representative David LaGrand is the minority vice chair on the committee that passed the bills.
“This is a huge problem that we’ve really only started to scratch the surface on and we have to have a much broader conversation as a society about the endemic problems of sexual assault,” said LaGrand.
Other bills would require medical professionals keep records on certain invasive procedures for 15 years.
Another would change the Freedom of Information Act to keep sexual assault victim identities anonymous in some civil lawsuits and proceedings.
