The provision states that Ohio’s regulatory agencies or regulatory boards “shall neither infringe on medical free speech nor pursue, or threaten to pursue, an administrative or disciplinary action” against any medical professional for “publicly or privately expressing a medical opinion that does not align with the opinions of the board or agency.”
“I intend to line-item veto that provision,” DeWine told Statehouse reporters last Friday.
DeWine said that the law would render the state toothless against doctors who, for example, obviously over-prescribed opiates — an action the state has regularly addressed to curb the opioid epidemic.
“All the doctor would have to say in defense is, ‘Well, it’s my opinion,’” DeWine said. “This would totally gut our ability to regulate health professionals.”
“I would agree with the governor in that this takes away a lot of the standard-of-care enforcement ability that we have as a medical board, and we think it’s very important to hold doctors to the standard of care when evaluating whether or not they commit misconduct,” said Jonathan Feibel, a Columbus-area doctor and president of the Ohio Medical Board, last week.
Credit: Submitted photo
Credit: Submitted photo
DeWine doesn’t often float his vetoes before they’re official, but his administration has opposed this change in law ever since it was first proposed within House Bill 73, legislation championed by area Rep. Jennifer Gross, R-West Chester, mainly aimed at allowing doctors to prescribe off-label drugs and grant them qualified immunity for any harm the patient endured as a result of those drugs.
In June, Ohio State Medical Board Executive Director Stephanie Loucka testified that the bill would eliminate minimum standards of care and allow medical professionals “to prescribe any drug for any ailment.”
The Ohio Senate watered down the House’s approved version of H.B. 73, causing Gross to ask her colleagues last week to vote against moving the bill further forward. That same day, the “medical free speech” portion of the bill was folded into H.B. 315 during a private conference committee among a handful of House and Senate negotiators.
Gross, a licensed nurse practitioner, could not be reached for comment.
In previous testimony on H.B. 73, Gross testified: “Despite the fact that health authorities continue to remind citizens to ‘trust their doctor,’ some doctors are attacked for their prescription choices. Many healthcare providers have had legal action taken against their licenses and their credibility for expressing a medical opinion that differs from that of an Ohio health agency or regulatory board.”
She reasoned that Ohio ought to ensure both patients and health professionals that there will be no retribution for using “life saving treatments.”
“Reducing these barriers to save lives are key to our strategy and to the future health of our state and its citizens,” Gross said.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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