MARVIN MANDEL, Governor                                 1841

(d) Imposing an 18-month moratorium on all new commitments for Farmers
Home Administration loans for construction of low- and moderate-income
housing in rural communities, paralleling the freeze on housing subsidies in
urban areas; and

WHEREAS, The net impact, should the present reductions in these programs
persist, will be the further demise of many small farm operations; and

WHEREAS, It is the sense of the General Assembly of Maryland that the
continuance of the above-mentioned drastic reductions will have a highly
deleterious effect on the farm families of Maryland and on American agriculture
generally; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That the
General Assembly respectfully requests President Richard Nixon and the United
States Congress to take prompt steps to restore the funds for these programs
which are so useful for agriculture and the American farmer; and be it further

RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be forwarded to President Richard
M. Nixon, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., N. W., Washington, D. C; to the Secretary of
the Department of Agriculture, Independence Ave. between 12th & 14th Streets,
S. W., Washington, D. C; to the Director of the Office of Management and
Budget, Executive Office Building, Southeast Corner, 17th & Pennsylvania Ave.,
N. W., Washington, D. C: to Senators Charles McC. Mathias, Jr. and J. Glenn
Beall, Jr., United States Senate, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. 20510;
to Congressmen William O. Mills, Clarence D. Long, Paul Sarbanes, Marjorie S.
Holt, Lawrence J. Hogan, Goodloe E. Byron, Parren J. Mitchell, and Gilbert
Gude, House Office Building, Washington, D. C. 20515; and to the Secretary of
the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, S. W.,
Washington, D. C.

Approved April 26, 1973.

No. 9
(House Joint Resolution 44)

House Joint Resolution urging the hospitals of Maryland to adopt "The Patient's
Bill of Rights" proposed by the American Hospital Association.

WHEREAS, The patients in all Maryland hospitals deserve effective care,
satisfaction and total participation in the healing process; and

WHEREAS, In the increasingly complex and sometimes impersonal atmosphere
of large institutions, each patient should feel there is an interested doctor - patient
- hospital relationship; and

WHEREAS, The American Hospital Association has attempted to preserve
patient's rights and dignity by the following listed rights:

1.   The patient has the right to considerate and respectful care.

2.     The patient has the right to obtain from his physician complete current
information concerning his diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis in terms the patient
can be reasonably expected to understand. When it is not medically advisable to
give such information to the patient, the information should be made available to