ABA HOUSE OF DELEGATES PASSES NEW PRINCIPLES FOR JURIES

Health Care Information, Sentencing Guidelines Also Debated

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 14, 2004 – In a unanimous decision, the American Bar Association House of Delegates, the ABA’s 546-member policy-making body, during the association’s Midyear Meeting in Salt Lake City today adopted a set of principles designed to improve jurors’ experiences while serving.

In approving Recommendation 301, the association voted to urge Congress to take steps to assure that federal sentencing practices are effective, fair and just, and to meet the goals in the Sentencing Reform Act.

The House also approved Recommendation 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.

The House of Delegates adopted Recommendation 102, supporting change in U.S. law to award a patent to the first inventor to file an application for a patent, to reduce uncertainty and unpredictability in the U.S. patent system.

Other policies adopted at this meeting include Recommendation 108A, urging jurisdictions to adopt statutes to compensate people who have been convicted and incarcerated for crimes they did not commit; Recommendation 108B, calling for measures ensuring that no prosecution is based solely on uncorroborated jailhouse informant testimony; and 108C, urging governments to establish standards for defense counsel in serious non-capital criminal cases.

For a list of all policies adopted, copies or other information, contact the ABA Division for Media Relations and Communication Services at 312/988-6171 or 202/662-1090.

With more than 400,000 members, the American Bar Association is the largest voluntary professional membership organization in the world. As the national voice of the legal profession, the ABA works to improve the administration of justice, promotes programs that assist lawyers and judges in their work, accredits law schools, provides continuing legal education, and works to build public understanding around the world of the importance of the rule of law in a democratic society.

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