HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.C.R. NO.

144

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE HAWAII MEDICAL ASSOCIATION AND HAWAII PSYCHIATRIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION TO CONVENE A ROUNDTABLE TO ESTABLISH MEDICAL PROTOCOLS TO ENSURE THAT AN INDIVIDUAL'S THYROID FUNCTION IS TESTED before PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS FOR MENTAL ILLNESS ARE PRESCRIBED.

 

 

     WHEREAS, doctors and others who have prescriptive authority often appropriately prescribe psychotropic medications to treat individuals who have a mental illness; and

 

     WHEREAS, literature and experience demonstrates that sometimes individuals who have a thyroid condition may present symptoms similar to mental illness; and

 

     WHEREAS, there have been instances where these individuals have been prescribed psychotropic medications without testing for the presence of a thyroid condition; and

 

     WHEREAS, subsequent testing has revealed that some individuals in fact had a thyroid condition and not a mental illness and that the psychotropic medications they received were either ineffective or potentially harmful; and

 

     WHEREAS, testing for abnormal thyroid levels is a simple process that can be done through a blood test; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, the Senate concurring, that the Hawaii Medical Association and Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association is requested to convene a roundtable to establish medical protocols to ensure that an individual's thyroid function is tested before psychotropic medications for mental illness are prescribed; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the President of the Hawaii Medical Association and President of the Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Hawaii Medical Association; Hawaii Psychiatric Medical Association; Roundtable; Medical Protocols; Thyroid Testing; Psychotropic Medication Prescription