STAND. COM. REP. NO.  705-12

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2012

 

RE:   H.B. No. 2312

      H.D. 2

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2012

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred H.B. No. 2312, H.D. 1, entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO TORTS,"

 

begs leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to encourage private persons to perform early cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on a patient experiencing a cardiac arrest, without hesitation due to potential liability, by clarifying that Hawaii's Good Samaritan law:

 

     (1)  Covers persons who perform CPR in response to a perceived medical emergency, as opposed to an actual life-threatening situation;

 

     (2)  Relieves a person who provides a CPR training program from vicarious liability for the act of a Good Samaritan who attempts CPR on a patient in a perceived emergency; and

 

     (3)  Relieves physicians and physician assistants who administer CPR training programs from liability resulting from acts that occurred in the administration of CPR.

 

     The Department of Education; AED Institute of America, Inc.; and one individual testified in support.  The American Heart Association made comments.


     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Changing the term "patient" to "individual" because individuals experiencing cardiac arrest may not be under medical care; and

 

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for  clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2312, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2312, H.D. 2.

 

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

 

 

 

 

____________________________

GILBERT KEITH-AGARAN, Chair