Bill Text: HI SB2578 | 2012 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Health; Physicians; Medical School Students; Pelvic Examinations; Informed Consent

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-02-16 - (S) Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to JDL. [SB2578 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2012-SB2578-Amended.html

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STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2255

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 2578

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2578 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO HEALTH,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require informed consent in certain circumstances before performing pelvic examinations for training purposes on anesthetized or unconscious female patients.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, Hawaii State Democratic Women's Caucus, University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, and four individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Hawaii Medical Board.

 

     Your Committee finds that the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Women's Health has a policy of consent currently in place regarding pelvic examinations under anesthesia.  Your Committee further finds that permitting the John A. Burns School of Medicine to receive consent either verbally or in written form will allow for the most flexibility for the medical students and their patients.  Your Committee would also like to note that this issue was raised by a student of the John A. Burns School of Medicine who was concerned with the state of practice regarding pelvic examinations on anesthetized or unconscious women.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Deleting the statement that asserts that medical students often perform pelvic examinations for training purposes on anesthetized or unconscious female patients without first obtaining the patients' informed consent;

 

     (2)  Allowing for either verbal or written informed consent for the pelvic examination; and

 

     (3)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2578, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2578, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Health,

 

		____________________________ JOSH GREEN, M.D., Chair