VIDEO: A bill passed unanimously in the West Virginia House of Delegates protecting certain conversations between first responders and their peers.
The bill, House Bill 5086, allows police, firefighters and other emergency first responders to speak with “peer support team members,” usually their fellow co-workers, about stress or other topics that may come with the job.
HIPAA laws still apply when treating patients as health care providers, but conversations between co-workers outside of treating patients as a first responder were not previously specifically covered by West Virginia state law when it comes to how those conversations could be used in court.
Sponsor of the bill Del. Jonathan Pinson (R-Mason) says this bill is important to him.
“As a former police officer, I recognize the distress of the job. And I recognize that some of these calls that my coworkers, former coworkers, firemen, EMS, police officers, the stress that’s just compounding in them, for us to be able to unanimously stand together in the House of Delegates and say that we want to provide them this support, it means a lot,” Pinson said.
