Vehicles: physician and surgeon reporting.

Existing law requires a physician and surgeon to report in writing immediately to the local health officer, the name, date of birth, and address of every patient at least 14 years of age or older whom the physician and surgeon has diagnosed as having a disorder characterized by lapses of consciousness. Existing law requires the local health officer to report this information in writing to the Department of Motor Vehicles. Existing law authorizes the department to refuse to issue to, or renew a driver's license of, a person who has a disorder characterized by lapses of consciousness or who has experienced, within the last 3 years, either a lapse of consciousness or an episode of marked confusion caused by any condition that may bring about recurrent lapses. This bill would delete these existing provisions on January 1, 2030, and instead would authorize, until January 1, 2037, a physician and surgeon to report in writing immediately to the department the name, date of birth, and address of every patient at least 15 years of age, or 14 years of age if the patient has a junior permit, whom the physician and surgeon has diagnosed as having any condition severe enough to be likely to impair the patient's ability to operate a motor vehicle if a physician and surgeon reasonably and in good faith believes that reporting the patient will serve the public interest. This bill would require a physician and surgeon to report in writing every above-described patient whom the physician and surgeon has diagnosed as having Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder. This bill would also require, until January 1, 2037, the department, in cooperation with the State Department of Public Health, to guide reporting so that diagnosed cases reported are only those where there is reason to believe that the patients' conditions are likely to impair their ability to operate a motor vehicle. The bill would also exempt, until January 1, 2037, a health care provider or health care entity from specified liability, including, among others, civil or criminal liability, for making or not making, or in relation to or arising from making or not making, the report. This bill would require the Department of Motor Vehicles, by January 1, 2035, to submit a report to the Legislature evaluating the impact of transitioning to a discretionary reporting system. The bill would require the department's report, among other things, to compare the number of reports submitted by physicians and surgeons to the department, before and after this transition. The bill would repeal the department's reporting requirement on January 1, 2037. This bill would, beginning on January 1, 2037, revert to the physician and surgeon reporting requirements in existing law, except the bill would provide a specific definition of "disorders characterized by lapses of consciousness."