South Carolina S 46: Separate confinement of juvenile offenders

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 46 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 11, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 46

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 
9 TO TITLE 41 SO AS TO PROVIDE CERTAIN CONTRACT PROVISIONS THAT INTERFERE WITH 
THE PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIP OR ALLOW FOR THE CORPORATE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE 
ARE DECLARED TO BE AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY OF THIS STATE, TO PROVIDE CERTAIN 
CONTRAVENING CONTRACT PROVISIONS ARE UNENFORCEABLE, TO SPECIFY CERTAIN RELATED 
CONTRACT PROVISIONS WHICH ARE ENFORCEABLE, AND TO PROVIDE REMEDIES FOR 
VIOLATIONS, AMONG OTHER THINGS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Title 41 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

CHAPTER 9

Healthcare Contracts

 Section 
41-9-110. It is hereby declared that contract provisions which interfere with a 
physician-patient relationship or allow for the corporate practice of medicine 
are against the public policy of this State.

 Section 
41-9-120. (A) A physician licensed 
to practice medicine pursuant to the provisions of Title 40, Chapter 47 has a 
direct, personal, and individual duty and responsibility to his patients, 
regardless of his form of practice or employment and any contract or agreement 
that creates or establishes the terms of a partnership, employment, or any 
other form of professional relationship that restricts or interferes with the 
physician's ability to treat patients or impermissibly delegates to or allows a 
corporate entity to fulfill or direct this duty are void and unenforceable with 
respect to said restriction; provided, however, that nothing herein may be 
construed to render void or unenforceable the remaining provisions of any such 
contract or agreement.

 (B) 
Impermissible, unenforceable, and void restrictions under subsection (A) 
include, but are not limited to the following:

 (1) 
any restriction on the ability of a physician to practice medicine in any 
geographic area for any period of time after the termination of such 
partnership, employment, or professional relationship;

 (2) 
any restriction on the ability of a physician to continue to provide treatment, 
advise, or consult with any current patient after the termination of such 
partnership, employment, or professional relationship;

 (3) 
any restriction on the right of a physician to establish or seek to establish a 
physician-patient relationship with any patient upon his departure from the 
partnership, employer, or other entity;

 (4) 
any restriction that in any manner, directly or indirectly, supplants, 
diminishes, directs, or regulates the independent judgment of the physician 
concerning the practice of medicine or the diagnosis and treatment of any 
patient;

 (5) 
any restriction or provision that either directly or indirectly allows a 
partnership, hospital, health system, or any other corporate entity, except as 
provided in Section 33-19-101, et. seq., to practice medicine in violation of 
Section 40-47-200; and

 (6) 
any restriction on the obligation of a physician as determined by the Board of 
Medical Examiners, including the withholding of information, to notify patients 
of his departure from such partnership, employment, or professional 
relationship, at least thirty days before his departure including how the 
patient can obtain his medical record and whether or not the physician will 
still be practicing in the State, and how to seek continued treatment from the 
physician, if the patient chooses. The partnership, employer, or other 
professional entity may specify in the written contract or agreement that it 
will undertake this notification on behalf or the physician at least thirty 
days before his departure, if possible, but no later than thirty days after his 
departure if the Board of Medical Examiners requires. Such notification to the 
patient by the entity must be in writing and mailed or e-mailed to the address 
of record for each patient, must make clear that the choice of a physician 
belongs to the patient, and must include how the patient can obtain his medical 
record and how to seek continued treatment from the departing physician, must 
state whether or not the departing physician will still be practicing in the 
State, and must be provided to the entity within thirty days of departure. The 
Board of Medical Examiners must promulgate a regulation that clearly outlines 
the circumstances in which this notification is required and develop and 
publish the minimum requirements that will satisfy this notification requirement 
by the entity. Further, no partnership, employer, or other entity may withhold 
this information from a patient if the patient inquires before the notification 
is sent and the entity has been informed by the d