Is it true that House Bill 527 would allow optometrists, who are not medical doctors, to perform eye surgery?

Sort of.

According to EyeCareAccess.com, a pro-bill website set up by the Optometry Association of Louisiana, the measure would allow optometrists to perform “in-office laser procedures that are done without general anesthesia.”

State law, R.S. 37:1041, defines “ophthalmic surgery” as “a procedure upon the human eye or its adnexa in which in vivo human tissue is injected, cut, burned, frozen, sutured, vaporized, coagulated, or photodisrupted by the use of surgical instrumentation such as, but not limited to, a scalpel, cryoprobe, laser, electric cautery, or ionizing radiation.”

The statute limits the practice of such procedures to physicians — that is, medical doctors such as ophthalmologists. But it says that nothing in the law “shall limit an optometrist’s ability to use diagnostic instruments utilizing laser or ultrasound technology in the performance of primary eye care.”

H.B. 527, which is scheduled to be heard by the House Health and Welfare Committee today, would add to the latter a provision that says nothing in the law limits “an optometrist’s ability to perform ophthalmic surgery except for those procedures excluded in Paragraph (6) of this Subsection.”

Those procedures, as listed in the bill:

• Retina laser procedures, Laser-Assisted In Situ Keratomileus (LASIK) and Photorefractive Keratectomy (PRK).

• Penetrating keratoplasty (corneal transplant) or lamellar keratoplasty.

• The administration of general anesthesia.

• Laser or nonlaser injection into the vitreous chamber of the eye to treat any macular or retinal disease.

• Surgery related to removal of the eye from a living human being.

• Surgery requiring full thickness incision or excision of the cornea or sclera other than paracentesis in an emergency situation requiring immediate reduction of the pressure inside the eye.

• Surgery requiring incision of the iris and ciliary body, including iris diathermy or cryotherapy.

• Surgery requiring incision of the vitreous.

• Surgery requiring incision of the retina.

• Surgical extraction of the crystalline lens.

• Surgical intraocular implants.

• Incisional or excisional surgery of the extraocular muscles.

• Surgery of the eyelid for suspect eyelid malignancies or for incisional cosmetic or mechanical repair of blepharochalasis, ptosis, and tarsorrhaphy.

• Surgery of the bony orbit, including orbital implants.

• Incisional or excisional surgery of the lacrimal system other than lacrimal probing or related procedures.

• Surgery requiring full thickness conjunctivoplasty with graft or flap.

• Any surgical procedure that does not provide for the correction and relief of ocular abnormalities.

Additionally, the bill would allow optometrists to prescribe hydrocodone drugs and would grant state health officials authority to allow optometrists to administer inoculations in a public health emergency.

Online: www.legis.la.gov.

Update: Men plead guilty to robbery

Sunday’s Informer answered a question on the slaying of Brent Cole, a DeQuincy man who was shot five years ago in Baton Rouge as he drove around in search of his hotel.

Two men, James Barrow Jr., 21, and Michael Smith Jr., 20, turned themselves in and were charged in the case. But a grand jury took no action.

The men were later arrested on charges of armed robbery. On Monday both men pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery. Barrow, the son of a state lawmaker, was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Smith was sentenced to seven years.

East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney Hillar Moore told The Informer last week that the Cole case remains open. He reiterated that to The Advocate on Monday.

“We’re continuing to investigate that killing,” Moore told the paper. “We’ll continue to work toward an appropriate resolution and justice in that matter.”

The Informer answers questions from readers each Sunday, Monday and Wednesday. It is researched and written by Andrew Perzo, an American Press staff writer. To ask a question, call 494-4098, press 5 and leave voice mail, or email informer@americanpress.com

(mgnonline.com)