WHEREAS, an advance directive is a document that expresses a person's instructions about what decisions the person would want made regarding medical treatment in advance of an incapacitating illness or condition; and

WHEREAS, advance directives are legally binding on physicians, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, and other care settings; and

WHEREAS, in most jurisdictions, advance directives are sanctioned by state law; and

WHEREAS, every hospital is required by federal law, pursuant to the Patient Self-Determination Act, to make advance directive forms available to all competent adult patients and to assist them in filling out the forms and getting the forms properly witnessed; and

WHEREAS, federal law also mandates that medical facilities must also educate staff and patients on advance directives and not discriminate in care for or against patients with advance directives; and

WHEREAS, in most jurisdictions, a physician who respects an advance directive by withdrawing life-sustaining procedures or otherwise conforming to treatment decisions is shielded from accountability for committing a homicide, assisted suicide, or euthanasia; and

WHEREAS, although more and more individuals are executing advance directives, health care providers often ignore the advance directives of their patients; and

WHEREAS, in many instances, a health care provider's reluctance to honor an advance directive is due to a fear of a lawsuit for negligence or wrongful death; and

WHEREAS, however, the failure of a physician to respect or honor an advance directive constitutes medical battery; and

WHEREAS, battery occurs when a health care provider touches a patient in an unwanted manner or provides care absent a patient’s consent; and

WHEREAS, a health care provider may then become liable for the harm caused by the unconsented touching; and

WHEREAS, a physician's failure to honor an advance directive, through the commission of medical battery, may result in civil liability, which is currently a growing trend across the nation; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, that all medical societies and associations within the State are urged to encourage their members to honor the advance directives of their patients; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the President of the Hawaii Medical Association, the President of the Honolulu County Medical Society, the Executive Director of the Academy of Pediatrics, Hawaii Chapter, the Governor of the American College of Physicians, Hawaii Chapter, Hawaii Independent Physicians Association, the President of the East Hawaii Independent Physicians Association, the President of the Hawaii Academy of Family Physicians, the President of the Hawaii County Medical Association, the President of the Maui County Medical Society, the President of the Kauai County Medical Society, and the President of the East Hawaii Medical Society.

Report Title:

Advance Directives of Patients