Committee advances bill clarifying when physicians may prescribe for themselves or close family

House Bill 1205, carried by Chairman Kumar, would clarify Tennessee law regarding clinicians prescribing medications for themselves and for immediate family members. The subcommittee approved the bill on a 7-0 vote and advanced it to the full Health Committee.

Kumar told the committee the activity "is not legally prohibited," but professional ethics make such prescribing difficult. He said the bill adopts AMA and Tennessee Medical Association ethical guidance to "confirm the conditions in which prescription to self or to family is allowed by a prescriber." The bill allows short‑term, self‑limited, minor or acute emergency prescriptions for self or family and — as an added provision — permits treating family members for illnesses within a physician's practice expertise if no other physician is available within 30 miles. "We have a daughter in Nashville and I'm back over there and she gets a cold and it's invariably the weekend or a Thanksgiving holiday and another physician is difficult to reach," Kumar said in response to a member question.

The bill also restricts controlled substances: controlled medications are generally prohibited for self‑prescribing except in "exceptional acute emergency situation," and sponsors said they intend this language to amount to a practical prohibition on narcotic prescribing for self or family except in urgent circumstances. Representative Mitchell pressed the sponsor for examples; Kumar replied that the intent is narrow and to permit short‑term relief for acute conditions without pushing patients to emergency rooms.

The committee recorded 7 ayes, 0 nays. The chair declared House Bill 1205 "moves on to health full."