STAND. COM. REP. NO. 207

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 116

       S.D. 1

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2015

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 116 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE HAWAII RULES OF EVIDENCE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to establish a rule of evidence to exclude the admissibility of medical apologies to prove liability.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Hawaii Medical Association, The Queen's Health Systems, and Healthcare Association of Hawaii.  Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Judiciary and Hawaii Association for Justice.

     Your Committee finds that a healthy doctor-patient relationship facilitates the transfer of information in both directions, enhancing accuracy of diagnosis and increasing the patient's knowledge about the disease.  Patients must have confidence in the competence of their physicians and must feel that they can confide in their physicians.  Physicians must be able to reassure and comfort their patients while remaining honest.  A healthy relationship ensures that doctors and patients can fulfill their roles and meet the expectations of each other.  Medical apology laws are designed to encourage communication between patients and health care providers.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion.

     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. 116, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 116, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.

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

____________________________

JOSH GREEN, Chair