2005 Midyear Meeting
At the 2005 ABA Midyear Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah, the House of Delegates passed the following Section-sponsored resolutions:
#104, opposing any government actions and policies that would interfere with patients’ abilities to receive from health care providers all relevant and necessary information they need to make fully informed health care decisions and information with respect to access to medically appropriate care. The resolution is intended to prevent government interference that would undermine longstanding principles of informed consent, and is intended to insure patients receive complete, accurate, unbiased and timely information about their treatment options.
The resolution does not require health care providers to offer or endorse any particular medical service; or to offer information about alternative or experimental treatments that do not meet the medical standard of care.
In addition, the House of Delegates passed the following resolutions co-sponsored by the Section:
#8A, supporting legislation to repeal the statutory provision preventing veterans from paying an attorney to represent them in connection with their claims for federal benefits.
#106, calling upon the United States government to take all necessary and proper actions within its power to end the ongoing atrocities (including genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes) in Darfur, Sudan.
#108A, urging jurisdictions to enact statutes to adequately compensate individuals who have been convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit and identifying factors that should be considered in drafting such statutes.
#108B, urging federal, state, local and territorial governments to reduce the risk of convicting the innocent, while increasing the likelihood of convicting the guilty, by ensuring that no prosecution should occur based solely upon uncorroborated jailhouse informant testimony.
#108C, urging federal, state, local and territorial governments to reduce the risk of convicting the innocent by establishing standards of practice for defense counsel in serious non-capital criminal cases.
#110, calling upon Congress and the Administration to take steps to ensure that the visa issuance process is more effective and efficient, particularly for those who seek to conduct scientific or scholarly research in the United States and supporting policies to enhance homeland and national security and efforts to establish new visa policies and procedures to bolster security.
#112, supporting the repeal of annual numerical caps that result in undue delays in the granting of lawful permanent residence to those individuals who have already been granted asylum status in the United States.
#113, adopting the ABA Principles Relating to Juries and Jury Trials dated February 2005 and recommending that the appropriate entities review and revise, as appropriate, their respective Standards so as to eliminate any conflicts with the Principles and urges state, local and territorial bar associations to improve the management of jury trials by promoting the implementation of the Principles.
#301, urging Congress to take specified steps to assure that federal sentencing practices are effective, fair and just, and effectuate the goals of sentencing set forth in the Sentencing Reform Act.
Read about all of the reports considered by the House of Delegates at the 2005 ABA Midyear Meeting.
