Improve the Our Care, Our Choice Act

Hawaii's Our Care, Our Choice Act has been in effect for more than 2 years now. Yet many eligible terminally ill patients are having trouble accessing the law, causing needless suffering. 

Two years of data from Kaiser Permanente Hawaii and Hawaii Pacific Health show that up to 30 percent of OCOCA patients die before the end of Hawaii's mandatory waiting period--the longest medical aid-in-dying waiting period in the nation.

Additionally...

  • Hawaii's physician shortage makes it very difficult to find the two doctors required to qualify for medical aid in dying, especially on neighbor islands. 
  • Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), also known as Nurse Practitioners (NPs), are highly trained providers helping to fill this gap in virtually all other areas of care. In fact, Hawaii is one of 22 states that give APRNs authority to independently carry out all medical acts consistent with their education and training, including prescribing all forms of medication. 
  • Yet the Our Care, Our Choice Act prohibits them from performing their full scope of practice, meaning fully qualified APRNs are unable to support their patients who want the option of medical aid in dying. 

SOLUTIONS:

1. Allow providers to waive the waiting period if their patient is too ill to survive it; and shorten the waiting period from 20 days.

2. Reduce the mandatory minimum waiting period (some states only have a 48 hour waiting period. Hawaii has the longest suffering period of 20 days)

3. Allow Qualified APRNs to Provide Medical Aid in Dying.

Sign this petition to let legislators know that you want to bring Hawaii's waiting period in line with the rest of the nation, and that you want qualified APRNs to be able to support their eligible patients in the full range of end-of-life options! 

firma la petición
firma la petición
Has deshabilitado JavaScript. Sin este programa, puede que nuestro sitio no funcione debidamente.

política de privacidad

al firmar, aceptas los condiciones del servicio de Care2
Puede administrar sus suscripciones por correo electrónico en cualquier momento.

¿Tienes dificultades para firmarla?? Infórmanos.