The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.Kentucky HB 408 establishes legal framework for patient-directed end-of-life medication
Last action · January 23, 2026: to Health Services (H)Sponsors: Adrielle Camuel and 1 other
Track this bill to get notified when it advances a stage. One tap to stop, anytime.
What This Bill Proposed
Kentucky HB 408 allows mentally capable adult residents with a expected to result in death within six months to request and life-ending medication. The bill outlines detailed procedural safeguards for attending and consulting healthcare providers, requires reporting to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services, and protects participating providers and patients' insurance benefits from legal or professional penalties.
The measure introduces a regulated statutory pathway for medical aid in dying in Kentucky, affecting terminally ill patients, licensed healthcare providers, and insurance companies by establishing specific consent requirements, criminal penalties for coercion or forgery, and explicit exemptions from homicide and manslaughter charges for actions taken in compliance with the law.
- The General Assembly is the bicameral legislative body of the Commonwealth of Kentucky responsible for enacting state laws. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Terminally ill adult residents
Qualified terminally ill adults gain the legal right to request, obtain, and self-administer life-ending medication under specific statutory procedures.
Attending and consulting providers
Physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants are subject to detailed evaluation, counseling, documentation, and reporting requirements when participating.
Insurers
Insurers are prohibited from issuing policies that violate the act, altering rates, or denying life, health, or accident insurance benefits based on a patient's participation.
Cabinet for Health and Family Services
The cabinet is required to annually review records, collect prescription and dispensing documentation, promulgate administrative regulations, and report to the Legislative Research Commission.
Key Facts
- A qualified patient must be a mentally capable adult resident of Kentucky suffering from an incurable and irreversible terminal disease expected to result in death within six months.
- The patient must make an initial oral request, a signed written request at least 15 days after the initial oral request, reiterate the oral request, and be offered an opportunity to rescind at least 48 hours after signing the written request.
- The written request must be signed and dated by the patient and witnessed by at least two individuals who attest that the patient is mentally capable and acting voluntarily without coercion.
- The attending provider must inform the patient of diagnosis, prognosis, potential risks, probable results, and feasible alternatives including palliative care, hospice care, and pain control.
Show all 11 facts
- If either the attending or consulting provider suspects a psychiatric or psychological disorder or depression causing impaired judgment, the patient must be referred for counseling.
- The Cabinet for Health and Family Services must annually review records, require provider reports within 30 days of prescription issuance or patient death, and submit an annual report by March 1.
- Insurers are prohibited from denying life, health, or accident insurance benefits or altering policy rates based on a qualified patient's request for or self-administration of medication.
- Healthcare providers are not required to participate, may adopt policies prohibiting participation on their premises with proper notice, and are protected from civil or criminal liability when acting in good faith.
- Forging or altering a request, concealing or destroying a rescission, or coercing an individual with a terminal illness to request medication constitutes a Class B felony.
- Compliance with the act serves as an affirmative defense to charges of murder or manslaughter in the first degree.
- The measure may be cited as Rena's Law.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is eligible to request end-of-life medication under HB 408?
Can a healthcare provider be forced to participate in prescribing or dispensing the medication?
How does this legislation affect life insurance policies for participating patients?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
Follow the record
Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Died at adjournment · in House committee.
Procedural history
2 actions- Jan 23, 2026HouseCommitteeto Health Services (H)
- Jan 15, 2026HouseIntroducedintroduced in House to Committee on Committees (H)
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Establishment of Medical Aid in Dying Framework
HB 408 marks a fundamental policy shift by creating a legal and regulated mechanism for terminally ill adults to obtain and self-administer life-ending medication, complete with explicit criminal and civil liability protections.
Connected Entities
Sources
apps.legislature.ky.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 90)
- Controversy95Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz75Current news / social attention level
Publisher tools