Sec. 551.041.  MEDICAL AND DENTAL TREATMENT.  (a)  Each department shall provide or perform recognized medical and dental treatment or services to a person admitted or committed to that department's care.  Each department may perform this duty through an authorized agent.
(b)  Each department may contract for the support, maintenance, care, or medical or dental treatment or service with a municipal, county, or state hospital, a private physician, a licensed nursing facility or hospital, or a hospital district.  The authority to contract provided by this subsection is in addition to other contractual authority granted to the department.  A contract entered into under this subsection may not assign a lien accruing to this state.
(c)  If a department requests consent to perform medical or dental treatment or services from a person or the guardian of the person whose consent is considered necessary and a reply is not obtained immediately, or if there is no guardian or responsible relative of the person to whom a request can be made, the superintendent or director of a department facility shall order:
(1)  medical treatment or services for the person on the advice and consent of three primary care providers, at least two of whom are physicians licensed by the Texas Medical Board; or
(2)  dental treatment or services for the person on the advice and consent of two dentists licensed by the State Board of Dental Examiners and of one physician licensed by the Texas Medical Board.
(d)  This section does not authorize the performance of an operation involving sexual sterilization or a frontal lobotomy.
(e)  For purposes of this section, "primary care provider" means a health care professional who provides health care services to a defined population of residents.  The term includes a physician licensed by the Texas Medical Board, an advanced practice registered nurse licensed by the Texas Board of Nursing, and a physician assistant licensed by the Texas Physician Assistant Board.
Added by Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 76, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1991.
Amended by: 
Acts 2015, 84th Leg., R.S., Ch. 1 (S.B. 219), Sec. 3.1337, eff. April 2, 2015.
Acts 2017, 85th Leg., R.S., Ch. 437 (S.B. 1565), Sec. 1, eff. September 1, 2017.