HLS 20RS-563 ORIGINAL
2020 Regular Session
HOUSE BILL NO. 164
BY REPRESENTATIVE DAVIS
HEALTH/EMERG MED SERVICE: Provides relative to emergency medical services
protocols in certain life-threatening situations
1 AN ACT
2To amend and reenact R.S. 40:1133.14(C) and (E), relative to emergency medical services;
3 to provide for duties of emergency medical personnel in certain situations in which
4 the life of a patient is threatened; to provide for protocols for rendering emergency
5 medical services in such situations; to provide for approval of such protocols by
6 emergency medical services medical directors with certain qualifications; and to
7 provide for related matters.
8Be it enacted by the Legislature of Louisiana:
9 Section 1. R.S. 40:1133.14(C) and (E) are hereby amended and reenacted to read as
10follows:
11 ยง1133.14. Duties of emergency medical personnel
12 * * *
13 C. In a case of a life-threatening situation as determined by a licensed
14 emergency medical services practitioner, when voice contact with a physician is
15 delayed, or not possible, or when the delay in treatment could endanger the life of
16 the patient, such a person may render services, in accordance with one of the
17 following protocols until voice communication can be established at the earliest
18 possible time:
19 (1) A protocol approved by the emergency medical services medical director
20 who is a board-certified or board-eligible emergency medicine physician.
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions. HLS 20RS-563 ORIGINAL
HB NO. 164
1 (2) A a protocol that shall be established by the emergency medical services
2 committee or the executive committee of the parish or component medical society,
3 or its designee, until voice communication can be established at the earliest possible
4 time.
5 * * *
6 E. In the event that there is no organized or functional local parish medical
7 society in a parish of the state, the provisions of functions provided for in Paragraph
8 (C)(2) of this Section which require the approval of an emergency medical service
9 protocol by the local parish medical society or its designee may be performed by a
10 parish or multi parish multi-parish medical society which is adjacent or contiguous
11 to the parish without an organized or functional local parish medical society. In the
12 absence of such adjacent or contiguous parish or multi parish multi-parish medical
13 society, the district medical society shall approve an emergency medical service
14 protocol for the parish without an organized or functional local parish medical
15 society.
16 * * *
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HB 164 Original 2020 Regular Session Davis
Abstract: Provides relative to emergency medical services in certain life-threatening
situations and protocols for rendering such services.
Present law provides that in a case of a life-threatening situation as determined by a licensed
emergency medical services (EMS) practitioner, when voice contact with a physician is
delayed or not possible, or when the delay in treatment could endanger the life of the patient,
the practitioner may render services in accordance with a protocol established by the EMS
committee or executive committee of the parish or component medical society, or its
designee, until voice communication can be established at the earliest possible time.
Proposed law retains present law and adds thereto an authorization for licensed EMS
practitioners to render services in such situations in accordance with a protocol approved by
the EMS medical director who is a board-certified or board-eligible emergency medicine
physician until voice communication can be established at the earliest possible time.
(Amends R.S. 40:1133.14(C) and (E))
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CODING: Words in struck through type are deletions from existing law; words underscored
are additions.