§326-40  Kalaupapa; policy on residency. The legislature finds that Hawaii's Hansen's disease victims have in many wayssymbolized the plight of those afflicted with this disease throughout theworld.  Their sufferings and social deprivations helped eventually to bring thestory of the disease and an understanding of its health ravages to peopleeverywhere.  Those patients who settled in Kalaupapa remain a living memorialto a long history of tragic separation, readjustment, and endurance.

It is the policy of the State that the patientresidents of Kalaupapa shall be accorded adequate health care and otherservices for the remainder of their lives.  Furthermore, it is the policy ofthe State that any patient resident of Kalaupapa desiring to remain at thefacility shall be permitted to do so for as long as that patient may choose,regardless of whether or not the patient has been successfully treated.  Apatient resident of Kalaupapa desiring to take leave may do so without loss offinancial allowance or coverage of health care costs given those who remain atKalaupapa. [L 1977, c 25, §2; am L 1981, c 185, §19; am L 1985, c 250, §17; amL 1992, c 156, §8]