§1133.14. Duties of emergency medical personnel

A.(1) A licensed emergency medical services practitioner may perform any of the following functions:

(a) Services, treatment, and procedures consistent with national EMS education standards that have been approved and adopted by the bureau, and to the extent that he has been trained to perform such services.

(b) Administration of other drugs or procedures for which the licensed emergency medical services practitioner has received training, license, and approval by the commission and which may be considered necessary by the ordering physician.

(c) Determine based on approved protocols whether it is appropriate for a person to be transported by ground ambulance to an alternative destination when the individual's condition does not meet the definition of emergency medical condition pursuant to R.S. 22:1821(D)(2)(g)(i). However, no person shall be transported to an alternative destination unless he consents to being transported to that destination, and no emergency medical services practitioner shall transport a person to an alternative destination in which he or his employer has a financial interest.

(2) The functions authorized by Paragraph (1) of this Subsection may be performed by the licensed emergency medical services practitioner while he is caring for a patient or at the scene of a medical or other emergency where voice contact is established with a physician and under the physician's order; or under a protocol that has been approved by the local parish medical society or the emergency medical services practitioner's medical director, until voice communication with the physician is established.

B. An emergency medical services practitioner student may, while he is enrolled in good standing in a state approved clinical or field internship program under the direct supervision of a physician, registered nurse, paramedic, or other preceptor recognized by the bureau:

(1) Perform services, treatments, and procedures consistent with national EMS education standards that have been approved and adopted by the bureau, and to the extent that he has been trained to perform such services.

(2) Administer automated cardiac defibrillation in accordance with rules and regulations promulgated by the bureau in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act and a protocol that shall be approved by the local parish medical society, or its designee, and the local physician medical director.

C. In a case of a life-threatening situation as determined by a licensed emergency medical services practitioner, when voice contact with a physician is delayed, not possible, or when the delay in treatment could endanger the life of the patient, such a person may render services, in accordance with a protocol that shall be established by the emergency medical services committee or the executive committee of the parish or component medical society, or its designee, until voice communication can be established at the earliest possible time.

D. Any individual, education organization, organization, or other entity violating the provisions of this Section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, conviction of which shall subject the offender to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars for each separate offense.

E. In the event that there is no organized or functional local parish medical society in a parish of the state, the provisions of this Section which require the approval of an emergency medical service protocol by the local parish medical society or its designee may be performed by a parish or multi parish medical society which is adjacent or contiguous to the parish without an organized or functional local parish medical society. In the absence of such adjacent or contiguous parish or multi parish medical society, the district medical society shall approve an emergency medical service protocol for the parish without an organized or functional local parish medical society.

F. The department shall promulgate rules and regulations establishing basic guidelines for statewide emergency medical service protocols.

Acts 1977, No. 626, §2; Amended by Acts 1978, No. 469, §1; Acts 1979, No. 688, §1; Acts 1984, No. 242, §1; Acts 1984, No. 243, §1; Acts 1986, No. 630, §1, eff. July 6, 1986; Acts 1987, No. 665, §1, eff. July 9, 1987; Acts 1988, No. 776, §1; Acts 1989, No. 195, §1, eff. June 26, 1989; Acts 1990, No. 211, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1991; Acts 1991, No. 974, §1, eff. July 24, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 913, §§2, 3; Acts 1999, No. 427, §1; Acts 2001, No. 385, §1; Acts 2012, No. 789, §2, eff. June 13, 2012; Redesignated from R.S. 40:1234 by HCR 84 of 2015 R.S; Acts 2018, No. 152, §1, eff. May 15, 2018; Acts 2018, No. 565, §2.