STAND. COM. REP. NO. 330

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1262

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fifth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2009

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 1262 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO MEDICAL TREATMENT,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure that patients receive quality health care by requiring health care providers to notify patients or their representatives of any adverse events that result in serious harm or death to the patient within seventy-two hours of discovery of the adverse event, without the admission being admissible as evidence of liability.

 

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Association of Justice.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health and The Queen's Medical Center.

 

     Written testimony presented to the Committee may be reviewed on the Legislature's website.

 

     Your Committee finds that patients deserve full disclosure when mistakes are made in the course of receiving medical care.  Ensuring full disclosure, with the disclosure notification excluded as evidence of liability, will improve patient safety procedures, reduce medical errors, and therefore reduce medical malpractice claims and insurance costs.

 

     Your Committee has amended this measure by changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion on the matter.

 

     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. 1262, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1262, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Government Operations.

 

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

 

 

 

____________________________

DAVID Y. IGE, Chair