Committee rejects change to Georgia anesthesia law after debate over patient safety and rural access

The House Regulated Industries Committee on Jan. 12 voted against a substitute to House Bill 251 that would have removed the phrase “administered under the direction and responsibility of a duly licensed physician” from Georgia law and replaced it with a defined “coordination” standard for anesthesia care.

The substitute drew sustained testimony from anesthesiologists, nurse-anesthetists, nurses and legislators about whether the change would expand access in rural Georgia or introduce confusion about who has final authority during an intraoperative emergency.

Representative Mark Newton, an emergency department physician, told the committee that patients and staff “deserve to know that there’s one person in charge” during a crisis and warned that the substitute’s wording risked “introduc[ing] confusion” about who makes final decisions. “The responsibility, the direction means somebody’s got to make the final decision,” Newton said, arguing that clear lines of command are especially vital in acute care hospitals.

Jett Toney, representing the Georgia Society of Anesthesiologists, told members the substitute would have statewide…