(a) The department shall adopt rules for emergency medical services that shall include:

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Terms Used In Hawaii Revised Statutes 321-23.6

  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
(1) Uniform methods of rapidly identifying an adult person who has certified, or for whom has been certified, in a written “comfort care only” document that the person or, consistent with chapter 327E, the person’s guardian, agent, or surrogate directs emergency medical services personnel, first responder personnel, and health care providers not to administer chest compressions, rescue breathing, electric shocks, or medication, or all of these, given to restart the heart if the person’s breathing or heart stops, and directs that the person is to receive care for comfort only, including oxygen, airway suctioning, splinting of fractures, pain medicine, and other measures required for comfort;
(2) The written document containing the certification shall be signed by the patient or, consistent with chapter 327E, the person’s guardian, agent, or surrogate and by any two other adult persons who personally know the patient; and
(3) The original document containing the certification and all three signatures shall be maintained by the patient, the patient’s:

(A) Physician;
(B) Attorney;
(C) Guardian;
(D) Surrogate; or
(E) Any other person who may lawfully act on the patient’s behalf.

Two copies of the document shall be given to the patient, or the patient’s guardian, agent, or surrogate.

(b) The rules shall provide for the following:

(1) The patient, or the patient’s guardian, agent, or surrogate, may verbally revoke the “comfort care only” document at any time, including during the emergency situation;
(2) An anonymous tracking system shall be developed to assess the success or failure of the procedures and to ensure that abuse is not occurring; and
(3) If an emergency medical services person, first responder, or any other health care provider believes in good faith that the provider’s safety, the safety of the family or immediate bystanders, or the provider’s own conscience requires the patient be resuscitated despite the presence of a “comfort care only” document, then that provider may attempt to resuscitate that patient, and neither the provider, the ambulance service, nor any other person or entity shall be liable for attempting to resuscitate the patient against the patient’s will.
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