Bill Text: HI SCR211 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: End of Life Directives; Working Group

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 5-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-04-12 - (H) Referred to HLT, JUD, referral sheet 67 [SCR211 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2010-SCR211-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	211
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the Department of Health to convene a working group to examine overlap and conflicts among statutes relating to patient care directives recognized in Hawaii, including physician orders for life sustaining treatment, "do not resuscitate" orders, and advance health care directives.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the Legislature enacted Act 186, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009, relating to physician orders for life sustaining treatment; and

 

     WHEREAS, physician orders for life sustaining treatment have been found by the State and other states to allow for individuals to more clearly state their wishes for end-of-life treatment in all pre-hospital and health care settings; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii also recognizes:

 

     (1)  Do not resuscitate orders that direct health care providers to provide comfort care to a patient and refrain from resuscitating if the patient's heart or breathing stops; and

 

     (2)  Advance health care directives that provide assurance that decisions regarding future medical care will reflect a person's specific wishes if the person is incapacitated and that provide mechanisms to establish legally authorized decision-makers when the patient is incapacitated; and

 

     WHEREAS, because Hawaii has multiple statutes involving a range of procedures and directives dealing with a person's health care choices, including end-of-life decisions, that may lead to confusion, including physician orders for life sustaining treatment, "do not resuscitate" orders, and advance health care directives; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Health is requested to convene a working group to examine overlap and conflicts among patient care directives recognized in Hawaii, including physician orders for life sustaining treatment, "do not resuscitate" orders, and advance health care directives; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group is requested to consist of representatives from:

 

     (1)  The University of Hawaii Elder Law Program;

 

     (2)  The Emergency Services Department of the City and County of Honolulu;

 

     (3)  Healthcare Association of Hawaii;

 

     (4)  Kokua Mau, Inc.;

 

     (5)  Hawaii State Bar Association Elder Law Section; and

 

     (6)  Hawaii State Bar Association Probate and Estate Section; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Health is requested to submit the working group's report, to include findings and recommendations, including any necessary proposed legislation, to address any inadequacies in and overlap and conflicts among these types of patient-care directives and ways to resolve any conflicts, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, the Director of the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program, the President of the Hawaii State Bar Association, the President of

the Healthcare Association of Hawaii, the President of Kokua Mau, Inc., and the Director of the Emergency Services Department of the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

End of Life Directives; Working Group