BILL NUMBER: AB 635 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Ammiano
FEBRUARY 20, 2013
An act to amend Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code, relating to
drug overdose treatment.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 635, as introduced, Ammiano. Drug overdose treatment:
liability.
Existing law authorizes a physician and surgeon to prescribe,
dispense, or administer prescription drugs, including
prescription-controlled substances, to an addict under his or her
treatment, as specified. Existing law prohibits, except in the
regular practice of his or her profession, any person from knowingly
prescribing, administering, dispensing, or furnishing a controlled
substance to or for any person who is not under his or her treatment
for a pathology or condition other than an addiction to a controlled
substance, except as specified.
Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2016, and only in
specified counties, a licensed health care provider, who is already
permitted pursuant to existing law to prescribe an opioid antagonist,
as defined, and who is acting with reasonable care, to prescribe and
subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in
conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
program, as defined, without being subject to civil liability or
criminal prosecution. Existing law requires a local health
jurisdiction that operates or registers an opioid overdose prevention
and treatment training program to collect prescribed data and report
it to the Senate and Assembly Committees on Judiciary by January 1,
2015.
Existing law authorizes, until January 1, 2016, and only in
specified counties, a person who is not licensed to administer an
opioid antagonist to do so in an emergency without fee if the person
has received specified training information and believes in good
faith that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. Existing
law prohibits that person, as a result of his or her acts or
omissions, from being liable for any violation of any professional
licensing statute, or subject to any criminal prosecution arising
from or related to the unauthorized practice of medicine or the
possession of an opioid antagonist.
This bill would revise and recast these provisions to instead
authorize a licensed health care provider who is permitted by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist and is acting with reasonable care to
prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid
antagonist for the treatment of an opioid overdose to a person at
risk of an opioid-related overdose or a family member, friend, or
other person in a position to assist a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose. The bill would authorize these licensed
health care providers to issue standing orders for the distribution
of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an opioid-related
overdose or to a family member, friend, or other person in a position
to assist the person at risk. The bill would authorize these
licensed health care providers to issue standing orders for the
administration of an opioid antagonist by a family member, friend, or
other person in a position to assist a person experiencing or
suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose. The bill would provide
that a person who acts with reasonable care and issues a prescription
for, or an order for the administration of, an opioid antagonist to
a person experiencing or suspected of experiencing an opioid overdose
is not subject to professional review, liable in a civil action, or
subject to criminal prosecution for issuing the prescription or
order. The bill would also delete the repeal date and reporting
requirements and expand the applicability of these provisions
statewide.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 1714.22 of the Civil Code is amended to read:
1714.22. (a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Opioid
section, "opioid antagonist" means naloxone
hydrochloride that is approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration for the treatment of a drug an
opioid overdose.
(2) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program" or
"program" means any program operated by a local health jurisdiction
or that is registered by a local health jurisdiction to train
individuals to prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate overdose,
and that provides, at a minimum, training in all of the following:
(A) The causes of an opiate overdose.
(B) Mouth to mouth resuscitation.
(C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services.
(D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
(b) A licensed health care provider who is permitted
authorized by law to prescribe an opioid
antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care, prescribe and
subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid antagonist in
conjunction with an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
program, without being subject to civil liability or criminal
prosecution. This immunity shall apply to the licensed health care
provider even when the opioid antagonist is administered by and to
someone other than the person to whom it is prescribed
to a person at risk of an opioid-related overdose or a family
member, friend, or other person in a position to assist a person at
risk of an opioid-related overdose .
(c) (1) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law
to prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders for the
distribution of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose or to a family member, friend, or other
person in a position to assist a person at risk of an opioid-related
overdose.
(2) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law to
prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders for the
administration of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an
opioid-related overdose by a family member, friend, or other person
in a position to assist a person experiencing or reasonably suspected
of experiencing an opioid overdose.
(d) A licensed health care provider who acts with reasonable care
shall not be subject to professional review, be found liable in a
civil action, or be subject to criminal prosecution for issuing a
prescription or order pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c).
(c) A person who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid
antagonist may administer an opioid antagonist in an emergency
without fee if the person has received the training information
specified in paragraph (2) of subdivision (a) and believes in good
faith that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. The
person shall not, as a result of his or her acts or omissions, be
liable for any violation of any professional licensing statute, or
subject to any criminal prosecution arising from or related to the
unauthorized practice of medicine or the possession of an opioid
antagonist.
(d) Each local health jurisdiction that operates or registers an
opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program shall, by
January 1, 2015, collect, and report to the Senate and Assembly
Committees on Judiciary, all of the following data on programs within
the jurisdiction:
(1) Number of training programs operating in the local health
jurisdiction.
(2) Number of individuals who have received a prescription for,
and training to administer, an opioid antagonist.
(3) Number of opioid antagonist doses prescribed.
(4) Number of opioid antagonist doses administered.
(5) Number of individuals who received opioid antagonist
injections who were properly revived.
(6) Number of individuals who received opioid antagonist
injections who were not revived.
(7) Number of adverse events associated with an opioid antagonist
dose that was distributed as part of an opioid overdose prevention
and treatment training program, including a description of the
adverse events.
(e) This section shall apply only to the Counties of Alameda,
Fresno, Humboldt, Los Angeles, Mendocino, San Francisco, and Santa
Cruz.
(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2016, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2016, deletes or extends
that date.
(e) Notwithstanding any other law, a person who possesses or
distributes an opioid antagonist pursuant to a prescription or
standing order shall not be subject to professional review, be found
liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal prosecution for
this possession or distribution. Notwithstanding any other law, a
person who acts with reasonable care and administers an opioid
antagonist to a person who is experiencing or is suspected of
experiencing an overdose shall not be subject to professional review,
be liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal prosecution
for this administration.