Colorado lawsuit

[smiling_ru]

FYI-

Doctors sue over plan by Owens By Bill Scanlon, Rocky

Mountain NewsMarch 1, 2003

Colorado anesthesiologists

have sued Gov. Bill Owens to stop him from making a

change that would allow nurses to administer

anesthesia without supervision.It's a question of

patient safety, the anesthesiologists said. They say

nurse anesthetists don't have the training to give

anesthesia without supervision.It's a question of

access, Owens said, claiming rural hospitals don't

have the money to hire anesthesiologists and have to

forego many procedures.The Colorado Society of

Anesthesiologists said the governor is misinformed and

there's no need for a rule change. General surgeons

can supervise nurses administering anesthesia."The

rural hospitals seem to be very confused," said Dr.

Randall Clark, past president of the society.President

Bush recently invited the governors to decide for

themselves whether to ease the Medicare rules that

require that supervision of nurse anesthetists.Owens

is trying to rush through the change and has refused

to meet with the society. He gave members only five

minutes to comment at a hearing before the Board of

Medical Examiners, society president Dr. Jan Gillespie

said.Her group filed the lawsuit to slow him down, she

said."We're hoping it will make him pause long enough

to listen to the facts," said Gillespie. "We can't

seem to get his attention any other way."Owens is

still mulling the options, said his spokesman Dan

Hopkins.Both the Board of Medical Examiners and Board

of Nursing agreed that relaxing the rules would be

consistent with state law, Hopkins said. And both

boards agreed that letting nurse anesthetists practice

unsupervised is in the best interest of the people of

Colorado, he added."There appears to be strong

evidence" that nurse anesthetists can be just as

effective as anesthesiologists in administering to

patients, Hopkins added. "The governor is not making a

decision in a vacuum."Nurse anesthetists have long

pushed for independence, saying they don't need a

doctor's supervision.The suit, filed Thursday in

Denver District Court, asks for a judgment against the

proposed rule change because it can "diminish the

professional opportunities for anesthesiologists in

the state of Colorado.

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[London88]

I wonder if the AANA is going to respond to this suit!

[VaMedic]

I can imagine that they would respond to it. With the statement

"diminish the professional opportunities for anesthesiologists in

the state of Colorado. "

It just proves that its a territory issue.They are worried that a CRNA may take thier job. Funny thing is that Colorado does not even have any approved CRNA programs.

[WntrMute2]

lawsuit or not this is a good thing. As pressure increases on healthcare organizations to reduce costs CRNAs are in a position of importance. I believe that once a more urban state makes the decision to "opt out" there will be a slippery slope effect and we will see larger numbers of states following. The potential however exists to shoot ourselves in the foot. As salaries rise, we lose the thing that differentiates us from the docs (I'm speaking about the bean counters point of view). Once our salaries are competative, there will be less incentive to hire CRNAs. I'm not really suggesting that during your interviews you offer to work for less, what I am saying is to make sure your employer gets their moies worth.