Legislative Issues: Patient Safety
In 2013, the TNAO and the TMA defeated the OD scope bill this legislative session which would have allowed ODs to perform some surgeries. This bill posed a dangerous risk to patient safety and quality surgical care for Tennessee citizens.
- The injections proposed in the optometry bills are not as benign and routine as its sponsors suggest. Any time a needle is placed near the eye, there is a serious risk to the patient that requires adequate clinical experience and judgment. For example:
- Puncturing an eyeball caused by a surgical error of just a few millimeters can result in catastrophic vision.
- Injecting eyelid lesions, which have blood vessels connecting to the back of the eye, can cause immediate and permanent visual loss.
- Injecting a cancerous lesion that has not been properly diagnosed can result in the cancer’s spread.
- Expertise in managing these types of serious complications is achieved through years of medical school, surgical residency and clinical training. It cannot be obtained in the current optometric curricula or in an "add on” training course.
- We are pleased to report that this dangerous legislation was rejected by the Senate for concerns over patient safety.
2014 will probably bring another scope of practice bill from the optometrists, who wish to do surgical procedures without the benefit of medical school or surgical training. Please watch this page for information beginning in January 2014 and how you can help. Or contact Angela Allen, the TNAO Executive Director at [email protected].
US Senators for Tennessee
Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
455 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-4944
www.alexander.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Email
185 Dirksen Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3344
US House of Representatives for Tennessee
District
|
Name
|
Party
|
Room
|
Phone
|
Committee Assignment
|
|---|
1
|
|
R
|
419 CHOB
|
202-225-6356
|
Education and the Workforce
Veterans' Affairs
|
2
|
|
R
|
2207 RHOB
|
202-225-5435
|
Natural Resources
Transportation and Infrastructure
|
3
|
|
R
|
511 CHOB
|
202-225-3271
|
Natural Resources
Science, Space, and Technology
Transportation and Infrastructure
|
4
|
|
R
|
413 CHOB
|
202-225-6831
|
Agriculture
Education and the Workforce
Oversight and Government Reform
|
5
|
|
D
|
1536 LHOB
|
202-225-4311
|
Armed Services
Oversight and Government Reform
|
6
|
|
R
|
1531 LHOB
|
202-225-4231
|
Budget
Ways and Means
|
7
|
|
R
|
217 CHOB
|
202-225-2811
|
Energy and Commerce
|
8
|
|
R
|
1118 LHOB
|
202-225-4714
|
Financial Services
|
9
|
|
D
|
1005 LHOB
|
202-225-3265
|
Judiciary
Transportation and Infrastructure
|
|
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