STAND. COM. REP. NO.766

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 1109

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Human Services, to which was referred S.B. No. 1109 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEPENDENT ADULTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to require that any family or household member who knows or believes that a dependent adult needs medical treatment, is unable to obtain it, and is at imminent risk of death or serious injury, shall either seek medical treatment for the dependent adult or promptly report the matter to the Department of Human Services (Department) or police.

Testimony in support of this measure was submitted by the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney, City and County of Honolulu; the Honolulu Police Department; the Christian Science Committee on Publication; and one concerned citizen. Testimony in opposition to this measure was submitted by the Department of Human Services.

Your Committee finds that, with the graying of Hawaii's population, comes the need to explore ways to better protect dependent adults in order to reduce and prevent incidents of elder abuse and neglect. Currently, section 346-224, Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires that health care professionals, social services and assistance workers, law enforcement, and adult residential care home and adult day care workers, among others, report incidents of suspected abuse or neglect of a dependent adult to the Department of Human Services. The Department is tasked with investigating suspected cases of elder abuse and taking appropriate follow-up action as required. This measure would expand existing mandated reporting requirements to include family and household members of a dependent elder who is in imminent risk of death or serious injury due to the failure to obtain needed medical care or treatment. This measure is not intended to be punitive, but, rather, to ensure that the dependent adult receives needed health care in a timely manner.

The Department expressed reservations about the designation of family and household members as mandated reporters. Under the statute as proposed, family and household members who fail to obtain medical care for the dependent adult or to report the matter to the Department or police may be subject to prosecution for a petty misdemeanor. The Department emphasized the need to educate the community at large about the symptoms of abuse and relevant health issues, before family and household members could be expected to know when a dependent adult is at imminent risk of death or serious bodily injury, thereby triggering the reporting requirement.

Your Committee finds that mandated reporters are traditionally professionals who have some knowledge of social and health issues and therefore can reasonably determine when there is a risk of abuse or neglect. Your Committee believes that, although family and household members who live with a dependent adult may not have the same level of knowledge as a professional, they could reasonably be expected to be aware that a dependent adult requires medical care.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Amending subsection (d) to provide for a duty to seek "necessary health care, access to health care, or prescribed medication," instead of "medical treatment or care" to be consistent with the definition of abuse in section 346-222(5)(C), Hawaii Revised Statutes;

(2) Deleting the requirement to report to the Department; and

(3) Making other technical amendments for the purposes of clarity.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Human Services that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1109, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1109, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Human Services,

____________________________

SUZANNE CHUN OAKLAND, Chair