STAND. COM. REP. NO. 771-04

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2004

RE: H.B. No. 1839

H.D. 2

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2004

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 1839, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO PAIN PATIENT'S BILL OF RIGHTS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to improve end-of-life care by establishing the Pain Patient's Bill of Rights which would, among other things:

(1) Give rights to pain patients;

(2) Authorize doctors to prescribe medically necessary doses of a controlled substance to treat intractable pain; and

(3) Allow doctors to refuse to prescribe controlled substances and require them to refer pain patients to physicians qualified to treat intractable pain.

Hospice Hawaii, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, and the Hawaii Board of Medical Examiners testified in support of this measure.

Your Committees have amended this bill to reflect a current professional standard of behavior regarding patient referrals. Your Committees noted that there are few physicians who by reputation are in pain management practice. Your Committees have therefore deleted the obligatory requirement for doctors to refer certain patients to such physicians and has replaced it with language that allows doctors to inform the patient of other doctors who use opiates to treat chronic intractable pain.

Your Committees have also changed the effective date from "upon approval" to July 1, 2099, to facilitate further discussion.

Technical, nonsubstantive amendments were made for clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1839, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1839, H.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Consumer Protection and Commerce and Judiciary,

 

____________________________

ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair

____________________________

KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair