AB 635, as amended, 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 1714.22 of the Civil Code is amended
2to read:
(a) For purposes of this section,begin delete “opioidend deletebegin insert the following
4definitions shall apply:end insert
P3 1begin insert(1)end insertbegin insert end insertbegin insert“Opioid end insertantagonist” means naloxone hydrochloride that is
2approved by the federal Food and Drug Administration for the
3treatment of an opioid overdose.
4(2) “Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
5program” means any program operated by a local
health
6jurisdiction or that is registered by a local health jurisdiction to
7train individuals to prevent, recognize, and respond to an opiate
8overdose, and that provides, at a minimum, training in all of the
9following:
10(A) The causes of an opiate overdose.
end insertbegin insert11(B) Mouth to mouth resuscitation.
end insertbegin insert12(C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services.
end insertbegin insert13(D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
end insert
14(b) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law to
15prescribe an opioid antagonist may, if acting with reasonable care,
16prescribe and subsequently dispense or distribute an opioid
17antagonist to a person at risk of an opioid-related overdose orbegin insert
toend insert
18 a family member, friend, or other person in a position to assist a
19person at risk of an opioid-related overdose.
20(c) (1) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by
21law to prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders
22for the distribution of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of
23an opioid-related overdose or to a family member, friend, or other
24person in a position to assist a person at risk of an opioid-related
25overdose.
26(2) A licensed health care provider who is authorized by law to
27prescribe an opioid antagonist may issue standing orders for the
28administration of an opioid antagonist to a person at risk of an
29opioid-related overdose by a family member, friend, or other person
30in a position
to assist a person experiencing or reasonably suspected
31of experiencing an opioid overdose.
32(d) A person who is prescribed an opioid antagonist or possesses
33it pursuant to a standing order shall receive the training provided
34by an opioid overdose prevention and treatment training program.
35(d)
end delete
36begin insert(e)end insert A licensed health care provider who acts with reasonable
37care shall not be subject to professional review, be found liable in
38a civil action, or be subject to criminal
prosecution for issuing a
39prescription or order pursuant to subdivision (b) or (c).
40(e)
end delete
P4 1begin insert(f)end insert Notwithstanding any other law, a person who possesses or
2distributes an opioid antagonist pursuant to a prescription or
3standing order shall not be subject to professional review, be found
4liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal prosecution for
5this possession or distribution. Notwithstanding any other law, a
6person who acts with reasonable care and administers an opioid
7antagonist to a person who is experiencing or is suspected of
8experiencing an overdose shall not be subject to
professional
9review, be liable in a civil action, or be subject to criminal
10prosecution for this administration.
O
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