Bill Text: HI SR15 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Advance Health Care Directive

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-03-25 - Report adopted, referred to JDL. [SR15 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2014-SR15-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	15
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

Establishing an advance health care directive working group to explore strategies to ensure all adults execute an advance health care directive.

 

 

     WHEREAS, an advance health care directive is a premade set of instructions concerning decisions about a person's medical treatment and health issues if the person is later unable to make medical decisions; and

 

     WHEREAS, it is estimated that less than fifteen per cent of all adults in the United States have an advance health care directive; and

 

     WHEREAS, individuals who are not able to make medical decisions, and who previously did not make an advance health care directive, effectively force their families into the extremely difficult position of guessing what the individual's wishes would be in making medical care decisions; and

 

     WHEREAS, ensuring that all adults in Hawaii have an advance health care directive would provide greater certainty for hospitals and other health care facilities regarding the appropriate medical treatment of individuals consistent with their preferences for end of life care and ensure their preferences are honored; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2014, that there is established the advance health care directive working group; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program is requested to serve as chairperson of the working group and to invite the initial members to serve on the working group, including one member from each of the following:

 

     (1)  The Judiciary;

 

     (2)  The Department of Health;

 

     (3)  The Department of the Attorney General;

 

     (4)  The Executive Office on Aging;

 

     (5)  The Hawaii State Bar Association;

 

     (6)  A hospital in the State; and

 

     (7)  A hospice in the State; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the advance health care directive working group is requested to explore strategies and develop recommendations that would ensure that all adults execute and maintain in force an advance health care directive; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the advance health care directive working group is requested to submit a report of its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation, to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2015; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of the University of Hawaii Elder Law Program, the Chief Justice, the Director of Health, the Attorney General, the Executive Director of the Executive Office on Aging, and the Executive Director of the Hawaii State Bar Association.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Advance Health Care Directive