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BILL NUMBER: AB 592 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 304
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2005
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2005
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 1, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 4, 2005
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 29, 2005
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Yee
FEBRUARY 17, 2005
An act to amend Section 2234.1 of the Business and Professions
Code, relating to healing arts.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 592, Yee Physicians and surgeons.
Existing law, the Medical Practice Act, creates the Medical Board
of California and makes it responsible through its Division of
Licensing and Medical Quality for licensing and regulating physicians and surgeons. Under the act, disciplinary action may be taken
against a physician and surgeon for engaging in unprofessional conduct, which includes gross negligence, repeated negligent acts,
and incompetence. Existing law provides that a physician and surgeon is not subject to discipline for these particular aspects of
unprofessional conduct solely on the basis that the treatment or advice he or she rendered to a patient is alternative or
complementary medicine, as defined, if specified conditions are satisfied.
This bill would also provide that a physician and surgeon is not
subject to discipline for these particular aspects of unprofessional
conduct solely on the basis that the treatment or advice he or she
rendered to a patient is alternative or complementary medicine,
including the treatment of persistent Lyme Disease, if those
conditions are satisfied.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2234.1 of the Business and Professions Code is amended to read:
2234.1. (a) A physician and surgeon shall not be subject to
discipline pursuant to subdivision (b), (c), or (d) of Section 2234
solely on the basis that the treatment or advice he or she rendered
to a patient is alternative or complementary medicine, including the
treatment of persistent Lyme Disease, if that treatment or advice
meets all of the following requirements:
- It is provided after informed consent and a good-faith prior
examination of the patient, and medical indication exists for the treatment or advice, or it is provided for health or well-being.
- It is provided after the physician and surgeon has given the
patient information concerning conventional treatment and describing the education, experience, and credentials of the physician and
surgeon related to the alternative or complementary medicine that he or she practices.
- In the case of alternative or complementary medicine it does
not cause a delay in, or discourage traditional diagnosis of, a
condition of the patient.
- It does not cause death or serious bodily injury to the
patient.
(b) For purposes of this section, "alternative or complementary
medicine," means those health care methods of diagnosis, treatment, or healing that are not generally used but that provide a reasonable
potential for therapeutic gain in a patient's medical condition that is not outweighed by the risk of the health care method.
(c) Since the National Institute of Medicine has reported that it
can take up to 17 years for a new best practice to reach the average physician and surgeon, it is prudent to give attention to new
developments not only in general medical care but in the actual
treatment of specific diseases, particularly those that are not yet
broadly recognized in California.
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