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No Emergency? seg. 1
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Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2009 | 5:30 p.m.
What's next now that a District Court judge has granted an injunction challenging the Board of Medical Examiners' emergency regulation on injections by medical assistants? And, will the attorney general's office enforce the long-ignored law against all medical assistants? Face to Face asks a pair of experts and gets reaction from State Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford (Clark County-D).
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I would like to comment on this and say that I attened Kaplan collage and during my 9 months there we were taught how to inject medications. Not botox or fillers but medications. As a medical assistant you are working under a doctors license and perform minor procedures. If medical assistants are not supposed to be injecting any medications and what we are doing is illegal in any way then the board needs to look into the many schools that are teaching these medical assistants how to perform injections and charging 12-14,000 dollars for this program.
The Medical Board proved itself corrupt by passing an "emergency" regulation allowing medical assistants to perform certain types of injections, not because the new regulation was passed in violation of the open meeting law (which it was), but because the Medical Board pretended the existing law was vague and in need of interpretation. The statute in question, NRS 454.215, is unambiguous and states, "A dangerous drug (meaning all prescription medications) may be dispensed by..." and then there is a list which includes registered pharmacists, physicians, registered nurses, medical interns and others who have qualifications significantly greater than those possessed by your average medical assistant. The District Attorney's prosecution of a medical assistant who was violating the law and administering injections they were not qualified or authorized by law to administer created a panic among all medical providers and spa owners who were aiding and abetting the illegal, felonious practice. "Everyone else was doing it," has never been a defense to speeding on the highway or smoking a joint at a rock concert, so why should it be any different when a person without the necessary license or qualifications illegally injects a dangerous drug such as botox? There is no difference, just the amount of influence the aiders and abetters have with the politicians is different, and that is what is corrupt. It is up to the legislature to change the law, but I bet that when the possible complications are discussed and the qualifications needed to deal with those complications are considered, medical assistants will again be relegated to filling out patient histories or will need go back to school for more training and greater certification.