Oklahoma Man Frustrated After Hospital Patient Protection Bill Fails To Pass

An Oklahoma man is frustrated after struggling to get a bill passed that would protect families with loved ones in the hospital.

Gerald Brand says he had a terrible experience when his wife, Lori Brand, was in the hospital during COVID and she later died.

He says the bill got some traction in the 2023 session but got nowhere with legislators this year.

Brand wants to make sure something like this doesn’t happen to someone else.

Brand spent several days alone in her hospital bed before she died back in April 2020, despite her family begging the hospital to let them be with her.

"I would have never thought it would happen to me,” said Brand. “But it did. It turns your world upside down."

Brand is now trying to get a law passed to give families rights when a loved one is in the hospital.

"There's going to be another time something's going to happen,” said Brand. “I've talked to people, since COVID, that have had issues with their loved ones in the hospitals. The way they're treated, not getting good information."

The bill has a hospital patients’ bill of rights that includes the right to have family members there, the right to have medical procedures explained in a way that’s easy to understand, and the right to get enough information before consenting to a procedure.

He says it wouldn’t cost the state anything, so he doesn’t understand why there’s any backlash.

"If we pass the patients’ bill of rights and we never have a problem again, and they do the right thing, then the bill's not going to have any effect on the way things go,” said Brand.

He hopes lawmakers will revive the bill next session, so others don’t have to lose their loved ones the way he did.

"If my bill never gets heard because I'm speaking up then so be it, but I'm not going to lay down and not do my best to make it better for everybody else,” said Brand.

News On 6 reached out to the Oklahoma Hospital Association who did not want to comment, saying it didn’t feel it had anything to add to the conversation because it hasn’t been working on the legislation during this year.