Introduced Version
Senate Bill 27 History
OTHER VERSIONS -
Committee Substitute (1)
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Key: Green = existing Code. Red = new code to be enacted
Senate Bill No. 27
(By Senators Stollings, Jenkins, Laird and Kessler (Mr.
President))
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[Introduced February 13, 2013; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on the
Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §16-4C-24, relating
generally to allowing State Police, police, sheriffs and fire
and emergency service personnel to possess Naloxone or other
approved opioid antagonist to administer in opioid drug
overdoses; defining terms; providing for training;
establishing training requirements for first responders who
may administer opioid antagonists; establishing criteria under
which a first responder may administer an opioid antagonist;
granting immunity to health care providers who prescribe,
dispense or distribute Naloxone or other approved opioid
antagonist related to a training program; granting immunity to initial responders who administer or fail to administer an
opioid antagonist; providing for data gathering and reporting;
and authorizing emergency rulemaking.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §16-4C-24, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 4C. EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ACT.
§16-4C-24. Administration of an opioid antidote in an emergency
situation.
(a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Initial responder" means any emergency medical service
personnel covered under this article and any member of the State
Police, any sheriff, any deputy sheriff, any municipal police
officer, any volunteer and paid firefighters and any other similar
persons who respond to emergencies.
(2) "Licensed health care provider" means a person,
partnership, corporation, professional limited liability company,
health care facility or institution licensed by or certified in
this state to provide health care or professional health care
services, including, but not limited to, a physician, osteopathic
physician, hospital or emergency medical service agency.
(3) "Opioid antagonist" means naloxone hydrochloride or other substance that is approved by the federal Food and Drug
Administration for the treatment of a drug overdose by intranasal
administration.
(4) "Opioid overdose prevention and treatment training
program" or "program" means any program operated or approved by the
Office of Emergency Medical Services 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) How to recognize the symptoms of an opioid overdose;
(C) How to contact appropriate emergency medical services; and
(D) How to administer an opioid antagonist.
(b) A licensed health care provider who is permitted 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, unless the act was the result of
the licensed health care provider's gross negligence or willful
misconduct. 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.
(c) An initial responder who is not otherwise licensed to administer an opioid antagonist may administer an opioid antagonist
in an emergency situation if:
(1) The administration is performed without a fee;
(2) The initial responder has successfully completed the
training required by subdivision (4), subsection (a) of this
section; and
(3) The administration of the opioid antagonist is done after
consultation with medical command personnel: Provided, That an
initial responder otherwise meets the qualifications of this
subsection may administer an opioid antagonist without consulting
with medical command if he or she is unable to so consult due to an
inability to contact medical command because of circumstances
outside the control of the initial responder or if there is
insufficient time for such consultation based upon the emergency
conditions presented.
(d) An initial responder who meets the requirements of
subsection (c) of this section, acting in good faith, is not, as a
result of his or her actions or omissions, liable for any violation
of any professional licensing statute, subject to any criminal
prosecution arising from or relating to the unauthorized practice
of medicine or the possession of an opioid antagonist, or subject
to any civil liability with respect to the administration of or
failure to administer the opioid antagonist unless the act or failure to act was the result of the initial responder's gross
negligence or willful misconduct.
(e) Data regarding each opioid overdose prevention and
treatment program that the Office of Emergency Medical Services
operates or recognizes as an approved program shall be collected
and reported by January 1, 2016, to the Legislative Oversight
Commission on Health and Human Resources Accountability. The data
collected and reported shall include:
(1) Number of training programs operating in an OEMS
designated training center;
(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 the opioid antagonist
who were properly revived;
(6) Number of individuals who received the opioid antagonist
who were not revived; and
(7) Number of adverse events associated with an opioid
overdose prevention and treatment program, including a description
of the adverse events.
(f) To implement the provisions of this section, including
establishing the standards for certification and approval of opioid overdose prevention and treatment training programs, the Office of
Emergency Medical Services may promulgate emergency rules pursuant
to the provisions of section fifteen, article three, chapter
twenty-nine-a of this code.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to allow police, fire and
emergency service providers, to possess Naloxone to administer in
suspected narcotic drug overdoses.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language that would
be added.
§16-4C-24 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.