Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health: Abortion Laws and How Physicians Can Protect Themselves
The recent decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health by the U.S. Supreme Court has pushed the issue of reproductive health back to state legislators. As each state grapples with how it will deal with this issue, it has created tremendous uncertainty for the physicians who serve those communities. Physicians are caught in an impossible situation of trying to care for their patients while operating within the law – with boundaries that are less clear and well-defined as they have been for the past 50 years. As we have for the past 47 years, MIEC will continue to stand with...
This supplement to our "Informed Consent Revisited" article contains excerpts from Hawaii laws related to informed consent, consent by minors and special consents. Hawaii physicians who have questions about a specific patient or who require legal advice may call MIEC’s Claims Office in Honolulu at 808-545-7231 or in Oakland, CA at 800-227-4527. For general liability questions, physicians and their staff can call MIEC’s Patient Safety & Risk Management Department in Oakland, CA at 800-227-4527. Informed Consent In the state of Hawaii, physicians must obtain informed consent from a patient prior to proposed medical or surgical treatments and diagnostic or therapeutic...
Hawai’i Members: Our Care, Our Choice Act Takes Effect in 2019
The state of Hawai’i just became the seventh state in the nation to allow physicians to assist terminally-ill patients in ending their own lives, in a move described by the state’s governor to allow those patients “to make their own end-of-life choices with dignity, grace and peace.”[1] Beginning on January 1, 2019, under the Our Care, Our Choice Act, Hawai’i residents who are mentally capable and suffering from a terminal illness are able to obtain prescriptions for medications to facilitate their death. HB 2739 was signed into law by Governor David Ige on April 5, 2018, and it is modeled...
Hawai’i Providers: Mandatory Opioid Prescription Requirements under Act 66
MIEC’s member providers in Hawai'i who prescribe opioid pain medications should be aware of a new state law which just went into effect this month. This new law imposes more stringent requirements around chronic pain management, patients who are also taking anti-anxiety medication, and/or patient who are on large dosages of opioids. Specific elements of the law are discussed below. Under Hawai'i Act 66 (17), Relating to Heath, as of July 1, 2018, all providers authorized to prescribe opioids in Hawai'i must adopt a written policy that includes the execution of a written informed consent document when prescribing opioids to...