Report Title:

Drivers' Licenses; Dementing Illness; Alzheimer's; Physician Reporting

 

Description:

Requires physicians to report to county examiners of drivers the name of every patient diagnosed as having a dementing illness, including Alzheimer's disease.

 


HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

2402

TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

 

A BILL FOR AN ACT


 

 

RELATING TO REPORTS OF persons with A DEMENTING ILLNESS.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 


     SECTION 1.  Chapter 286, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§286-     Reports on cognitive disorders.  (a)  "Physician" means a doctor of medicine or osteopathy licensed to practice under chapter 453 or 460.

     (b)  Every physician shall report immediately in writing to the respective county examiner of drivers every patient age fifteen years or older residing in that county whose dementing illness affects that person's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.  If a designated physician makes a report to the examiner in good faith, that physician shall be immune from civil liability that might otherwise result from making the report.  If a designated physician does not make a report, that physician shall be immune from civil liability that might otherwise result from not making the report.

     (c)  A temporary working group, consisting of the director of transportation, the four county examiners of drivers, and medical and dementia experts appointed by the director of transportation, is hereby established.  The working group shall make recommendations regarding the administrative rules for physician reporting.  Drawing from these recommendations, the director of transportation shall:

     (1)  Adopt rules under chapter 91 to:

         (A)  Implement the reporting requirements established by this section;

         (B)  Specify whether all or only certain physicians (e.g., surgeons, psychiatrists, those qualified to treat disorders of the nervous system) are required to report to the examiners of drivers a person whose dementing illness affects that person's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle;

     (2)  Define dementing illnesses based upon existing clinical standards and include Alzheimer's disease and those related disorders severe enough to be likely to impair a person's ability to operate a motor vehicle in the definition; and

     (3)  Develop guidelines designed to enhance the monitoring of patients affected with disorders specified pursuant to this subsection in order to assist with the patients' compliance with restrictions imposed by the examiner of drivers on the patients' licenses to operate a motor vehicle.

     (d)  Determinations regarding a person's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle shall be based upon the actual effect of that condition on the person's ability to operate a motor vehicle, and may not be based solely upon the diagnosis of a medical condition.

     (e)  Physician reports as required by the examiners of drivers under this section shall be upon forms prescribed or provided by the department of transportation, with input from the working group.  Each report shall include the person's name, address, date of birth, sex, and description of how the person's current medical status affects the person's ability to safely operate a motor vehicle.  These reports shall be for the information of the department of transportation and examiners of drivers in enforcing highway safety laws and shall be kept confidential and used solely for the purpose of determining the eligibility of any person to operate a motor vehicle on the highways of the State."

     SECTION 2.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 3.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2008.

 

INTRODUCED BY:

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