Tex. Health & Safety Code § 161.474 · Subchapter S. ALLOCATION OF KIDNEYS AND OTHER ORGANS AVAILABLE FOR TRANSPLANT
DISCRIMINATION ON BASIS OF VACCINATION STATUS PROHIBITED.
Text — Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
(a) A health care provider may not, solely on the basis of an individual's vaccination status:
(1) determine an individual is ineligible to receive an organ transplant;
(2) deny medical or other services related to an organ transplant, including evaluation, surgery, counseling, and postoperative treatment;
(3) refuse to refer the individual to a transplant center or other related specialist for evaluation or receipt of an organ transplant; or
(4) refuse to place the individual on an organ transplant waiting list or place the individual at a position lower in priority on the list than the position the individual would have been placed if not for the individual's vaccination status.
(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a), a health care provider may consider an individual's vaccination status when making a treatment recommendation or decision solely to the extent that a physician, following an individualized evaluation of the potential transplant recipient, determines the vaccination status is medically significant to the organ transplant. This section does not require a referral or recommendation for, or the performance of, a medically inappropriate organ transplant.
(c) This section applies to each stage of the organ transplant process.
(d) A person may not take an adverse action or impose a penalty of any kind against a health care provider based solely on the fact that the health care provider complied with Subsection (a).
(e) A physician who in good faith makes a determination that an individual's vaccination status is medically significant to the organ transplant, as described by Subsection (b), does not violate this section.
(f) A health care provider may:
(1) develop alternative risk mitigation strategies, including antibody testing, prophylactic treatments, and antiviral therapy, in lieu of requiring a vaccination; and
(2) inform patients of the risks and benefits of receiving a vaccination.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Acts 2025, 89th Leg., R.S., Ch. 450 (H.B. 4076), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2025.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Current through the 89th 2nd Called Legislative Session, 2025
- Official file
- https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/HS/htm/HS.161.htm
- Text hash
- sha256 0ca78369bd2eeed969570265173c411b0012e75350fdbb227941ad60ddea3d97
- Composed by
- compose_tx.py 2026-10-05: the Legislative Council's chapter files read in document order; verify_tx.py's independent reading (lxml DOM walk) agrees character for character
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.