HD32 - Report of the Joint Subcommittee Studying the Rights of the Termimnally Ill

  • Published: 1983
  • Author: Joint Subcommittee Studying the Rights of the Termimnally Ill
  • Enabling Authority: House Joint Resolution 115 (Regular Session, 1982)

Executive Summary:
House Joint Resolution 115 (Appendix A) was passed by the 1982 Session of the General Assembly in recognition of the increasing public concern over the care and treatment of terminally ill persons. The resolution created a joint subcommittee to study the complex legal, medical and moral issues in cases involving the termination or refusal of life-prolonging medical treatment. The membership of the subcommittee was designed to reflect these varied interests and provide a cross-section of persons familiar with the problems.

Delegates Brickley, Cohen and James were appointed from the House Committee on Health. Welfare and Institutions; Delegates Glasscock (of Suffolk) and Morrison were appointed from the House Committee for Courts of Justice; Senators Gray and Nolen were appointed from the Senate Committee on Education and Health; and Senator Canada was appointed from the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services. In addition, five citizen members were appointed to represent the legal and medical professions and the clergy. The citizen members were: Dr. John W. Hoyt, Medical Director of the Intensive Care Unit at the University of Virginia Medical Center; the Right Reverend David H. Lewis, Jr., Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia; Dr. Susan J. Mellette of the Medical College of Virginia; Nicholas A. Spinella, Esquire, of Richmond; and R. R. Young, Jr., Esquire, of Martinsville.

The subcommittee held three well-publicized meetings and two formal public hearings in Richmond in an attempt to maximize public input. All the meetings were well attended. Members of the public were given an opportunity to address the subcommittee at each meeting. In addition, the subcommittee solicited written comments from interested persons regarding the work of the subcommittee and the numerous drafts of legislation considered by the subcommittee. During the course of the study the subcommittee drew on the expertise of the members and the input received from those concerned citizens and groups. Among those providing information for the subcommittee were: the Medical Society of Virginia; William H. Regelson, M.D., Professor of Medicine, MCV; A. Patrick L. Prest, Jr., D.D.; Read F. McGhee, M.D.; Willis J. Spaulding, Director of the Mental Health Law and Training Center; the Most Reverend Thomas J. Welsh, Roman Catholic Bishop of Arlington; the Virginia Nurses Association; the Virginia Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Virginia Society for Human Life; the Virginia Council of Churches; and the Society for the Right to Die. (See Appendix B for written statements submitted.)

Following a comprehensive study of the problems associated with medical care decisions for the terminally ill, the subcommittee makes the following recommendations:

1. That the right of all competent adults to consent to or refuse medical treatment be recognized;

2. That competent adults be allowed to exercise this right by documenting their wishes prior to the time a treatment decision must be made;

3. That procedures be provided for refusing and discontinuing life-prolonging treatment, especially in regard to terminally ill persons who are incapable of communicating their wishes at the time a treatment decision is made but have previously expressed their wishes in a verifiable manner;

4. That persons participating in the decision to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging medical treatment from a terminally ill patient be granted immunity to ensure that the patient's wishes are carried out;

5. That penalties be imposed upon persons who falsify, forge or conceal a patient's declaration, or its revocation, thereby causing the patient to be treated or not, contrary to his wishes.