Liability, Life-saving Medicine And Schools

Sacramento, CA — A life-saving medicine approved last year by the state has  not been stocked by many public schools due to liability issues, but that roadblock could be taken down soon.

Recently, the State Senate unanimously passed SB 738 authored by Senate Minority Leader Bob Huff. It is a follow-up legislation from SB 1266, which was also authored by Huff and passed into law last year.  That law required public schools to stock epinephrine auto injectors to enable school nurses to use them on a student suffering from a serious anaphylactic allergy reaction during school hours.  Huff argued the need for the follow up bill saying, “Recent data from the California School Nurse Organization shows that many schools that are trying to implement SB1266 cannot because they cannot obtain the necessary prescription.”

SB 738 will provide limited liability protection for prescribing physicians writing standing order prescriptions in order to comply with the original legislation.  It now moves to the State Assembly.