republic-os/legislation/us/states/de/150/hb-239.md

type, title, description, jurisdiction, legislature, session, identifier, citation, classification, subjects, status, primary_sponsors, version_count, action_count, vote_count, first_action, last_action, source, source_identifier, source_url, source_hash, vintage, source_snapshot, retrieved_at, confidence, tags

type	title	description	jurisdiction	legislature	session	identifier	citation	classification	subjects	status	primary_sponsors	version_count	action_count	vote_count	first_action	last_action	source	source_identifier	source_url	source_hash	vintage	source_snapshot	retrieved_at	confidence	tags
Bill	AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INFORMED CONSENT.	This Act prohibits a pelvic, rectal, or prostate examination by a health care practitioner or professional on an individual who is anesthetized or unconscious. This Act provides exceptions and they are if informed consent is provided, the examination is for diagnostic or treatment purposes, an emergency exists and the examination is necessary, or the examination is ordered by a court. The Act also defines informed consent as a signing of a consent form that is written in plain language, is dated, includes a description of the procedure to be performed and states that a medical student or resident may perform or be present during the examination. Finally, this Act provides that a health-care practitioner or professional who violates the section may be subject to discipline by the appropriate professional licensing board.	us/states/de	Delaware General Assembly	150	HB 239	Delaware HB 239 (150)	bill		enacted	Debra Heffernan Ernesto B Lopez Krista Griffith Melissa Minor-Brown Valerie Longhurst	2	10	2	2019-06-18	2019-09-10	openstates	ocd-bill/5f19b0d7-5316-4e38-b28d-b9b2ce630ddc	https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=47750	f0991a35817346281fe454dd1576ff3ae747ac17aedd04c59368020de64c2f57	2026-07-01	https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump	2026-07-06	reported	legislation bill us-de

Delaware HB 239 (150) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 16 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INFORMED CONSENT.

This Act prohibits a pelvic, rectal, or prostate examination by a health care practitioner or professional on an individual who is anesthetized or unconscious. This Act provides exceptions and they are if informed consent is provided, the examination is for diagnostic or treatment purposes, an emergency exists and the examination is necessary, or the examination is ordered by a court. The Act also defines informed consent as a signing of a consent form that is written in plain language, is dated, includes a description of the procedure to be performed and states that a medical student or resident may perform or be present during the examination. Finally, this Act provides that a health-care practitioner or professional who violates the section may be subject to discipline by the appropriate professional licensing board.

Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. Bill Text (committee substitute) — source
2. HA 1 to HB 239 (committee substitute) — source

Votes

• SM — 20–0 (pass) · upper
• SM — 41–0 (pass) · lower

Sponsors

• Debra Heffernan — primary (person)
• Ernesto B Lopez — primary (person)
• Krista Griffith — primary (person)
• Melissa Minor-Brown — primary (person)
• Valerie Longhurst — primary (person)
• Kendra Johnson — cosponsor (person)
• Michael F. Smith — cosponsor (person)

Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

• 2019-06-18 Introduced and Assigned to Health & Human Development Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2019-06-18 Re-Assigned to Administration Committee in House introduction, referral-committee
• 2019-06-19 Reported Out of Committee (Administration) in House with 4 On Its Merits committee-passage
• 2019-06-20 Amendment HA 1 to HB 239 - Introduced and Placed With Bill amendment-introduction
• 2019-06-20 Amendment HA 1 to HB 239 - Passed In House by Voice Vote amendment-passage
• 2019-06-20 Passed By House. Votes: 41 YES passage
• 2019-06-21 Assigned to Health & Social Services Committee in Senate introduction, referral-committee
• 2019-06-30 Suspension of Rules in Senate
• 2019-06-30 Passed By Senate. Votes: 20 YES 1 ABSENT passage
• 2019-09-10 Signed by Governor executive-signature

Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot 2026-07-01; origin ocd-bill/5f19b0d7-5316-4e38-b28d-b9b2ce630ddc. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).