Under Seige

If you are a nurse esthetician, watch out. Apparently, your right to practice medical esthetics without direct supervision by an MD is being challenged in California. This is just off the press from the Association of Medical Esthetic Nurses.

ALL MEDICAL ESTHETIC PROFESSIONALS CALIFORNIA UNDER ATTACK AGAIN!!

All Medical Professionals in California your right to practice medical esthetics as you now know it under attack. Again, these moves are instigated by a subspecialty group of physicians to gain statutory protection and protect their financial cash cows by limiting competition. Meanwhile they are tying up our legislatures and incurring debt on the taxpayers with their unjustified and nonsensical personal agendas.

California Assembly Bill 2398 would require a physician or surgeon who delegates the performance or administration of any cosmetic medical procedure or treatment to directly supervise the delegate. The bill defines cosmetic medical procedure or treatment as “a medical procedure that is performed to alter or reshape normal structures of the body solely in order to improve appearance.” We are uncertain as to whether the scope of this bill is intended to include light-based cosmetic procedures, however we believe it will. A hearing regarding this bill has been scheduled for April 9.

We must fight back, we did in it Wisconsin, GA, AZ, CO, MASS, other states, WE CAN WIN, but we must be united and each do our part. Look over this amendment and contact (email and call) your respective congress persons to voice your strong opposition to this proposed amendment. Also please email the Assemblyman that are responsible for this bill:

Assemblyman Alan Nakanishi’s email is: assemblymember.nakanishi@asm.ca.gov

Assemblyman Ross Warren’s email is: ross.warren@asm.ca.gov

Other Committee Members can be found at:
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/newcomframset.asp?committee=129

I looked up the bill, and it states that (among other techno-talk):

This bill would require a physician and surgeon who delegates the performance or administration of any cosmetic medical procedure or treatment, as defined, to provide immediate supervision of that procedure or treatment, as specified. The bill would provide that a violation of that provision may subject the person or entity that has committed the violation to either a fine of up to $25,000 per occurrence pursuant to a citation issued by the board or a civil penalty of $25,000 per occurrence.

So I’m not really sure what this means, to be quite honest, or how the system is working right now. Does it mean that an MD must be physically present when a nurse performs the procedure, as in breathing down her neck and watching as her fingers inject Botox? In that case, the physician may as well do it himself. Or does it mean that there just needs to be an MD present somewhere in the facility? The MD could be doing his or her own procedures at the same time the nurses are doing theirs?

I do know that nurses perform many of these procedures, and in fact, I’ve seen them advertised on the windows of salons in Seattle. Perhaps a doc is available by phone, and then there’s always the ER, but I’m certain that salons do not have a physician physically on the premises.

I would appreciate more feedback on this from nurse estheticians, who are not nurse practitioners or who have an advanced degree.