Lori Brand Patient Bill of Rights Act of 2025

This week, the Lori Brand Patient Bill of Rights Act of 2025 became law in Oklahoma. The statute outlines patients’ rights and responsibilities to ensure they receive respectful and informed care.

Many of the specified rights reiterate rights that patients already have under federal law or under state law, for example: 

• For patients with limited English proficiency, "provision of language services at no cost to the individual, including oral interpretation and written translations." 
• "To receive as much information about any proposed treatment or procedure as he or she may need in order to give informed consent or to refuse the course of treatment."
• "To execute an advance directive for health care concerning treatment or to designate a surrogate decision-maker with the expectation that the hospital will honor the intent of that directive"

While technically unnecessary, duplication in the law has practical advantaged. This importance of such clarity is illustrated by the wave of pelvic exam law enacted over the past five years.

The LBPBRA also assures patients "a mechanism, which shall be implemented and maintained by the hospital, for the consideration of ethical issues arising in the care of patients, and to education on ethical issues in health care, which the hospital shall provide to caregivers and patients."

Lori Brand