Allows for unlicensed personnel to administer certain seizure rescue medication in schools, on school grounds and at school events; provides that such medicine may be left with a school health official to be used as needed.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5434
SPONSOR: Hunter TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to allowing for unli-
censed personnel to administer seizure rescue medication
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
Authorizes school districts to have licensed professionals administer
seizure rescue nasal sprays, licensed individuals to teach unlicensed
individuals how to administer such rescue nasal spray and authorize
students to carry such medication in schools.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends Section. 921 of the education law to include diazepam
or midazolam nasal spray as a medication in which licensed medical
professionals may-administer at schools in rescue situations
Section 2. Creates two new sections in the education law 902-c. Allowing
for licensed medical professionals to optionally teach a unlicensed
person how to administer diazepam or midazolam nasal spray for a student
having a seizure. Provides liability protection for a school district,
BOCES, their agents or employees for good faith compliance with this
section 916-c. Allows for students who have been diagnosed with epilepsy
to carry seizure rescue medication with parental consent. This section
does not require a school district to carry or provide seizure rescue
medication or require the hiring of a licensed medical professional and
provides liability protection.
Section 3. Effective Date.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the NYS Department of Health, it is estimated that 180,000
New Yorkers have epilepsy and roughly 1 in 10 diagnosed individuals will
have a seizure in their lifetime. An individual prone to seizures has no
control over when and where such seizures will occur. As students are
under the care of a school district for several hours a day whether in
the classroom, on school grounds for extracurricular activities or on
the school bus. Under this legislation, school districts who have an
enrolled student with epilepsy would be allowed to train their staff
with the skills to administer life saving medication to a student.
Various medications are available to treat individuals having a severe
seizure, however nasal sprays are easiest for unlicensed individuals to
administer in an emergency situation. The Epilepsy Foundation and their
local affiliates offer training classes for school personnel, but that
is no substitute for being able to use a life saving medication. This
legislation will enable schools to help a student in an emergency, give
parents the peace of mind that their child will be taken care of during
school hours, and provide liability protection to school districts
making a good faith effort to help their students.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22: A.8049
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5434
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 10, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to allowing for unli-
censed personnel to administer seizure rescue medication
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 921 of the education law, as
2 amended by chapter 339 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. The board of education or trustees of each school district and
5 board of cooperative educational services and nonpublic schools are
6 authorized, but not obligated to have licensed registered professional
7 nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and physicians train
8 unlicensed school personnel to administer prescribed glucagon or
9 epinephrine auto injectors, or administer diazepam or midazolam nasal
10 spray in emergency situations, where an appropriately licensed health
11 professional is not available, to pupils who have the written permission
12 of a physician or other duly authorized health care provider for the
13 administration of glucagon [or], emergency epinephrine auto injector, or
14 diazepam or midazolam nasal spray, along with written parental consent,
15 during the school day on school property and at any school function as
16 such terms are defined, respectively, by subdivisions one and two of
17 section eleven of this chapter. Training must be provided by a physician
18 or other duly authorized licensed health care professional in a compe-
19 tent manner and must be completed in a form and manner prescribed by the
20 commissioner in regulation.
21 § 2. The education law is amended by adding two new sections 902-c and
22 916-c to read as follows:
23 § 902-c. Treatment of students diagnosed with epilepsy by school
24 personnel. 1. Licensed nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assist-
25 ants, or physicians employed by school districts or boards of cooper-
26 ative educational services shall be authorized to administer prescribed
27 diazepam or midazolam nasal spray, to teach an unlicensed person to
28 administer a diazepam or midazolam nasal spray to an individual, and to
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04894-01-3
A. 5434 2
1 perform other authorized services pursuant to the scope of practice of
2 the licensed individual under title eight of this chapter, to pupils who
3 have received written permission by a physician or other licensed health
4 care provider and written parental consent to carry and use a diazepam
5 or midazolam nasal spray pursuant to section nine hundred sixteen-c of
6 this article during the school day on school property and at any school
7 function. Nothing in this section shall authorize unlicensed persons to
8 perform these services except as otherwise permitted by section nine
9 hundred twenty-one of this article.
10 2. A school district, board of cooperative educational services and/or
11 their agents or employees shall incur no legal or financial liability as
12 a result of any harm or injury sustained by a pupil or other person
13 caused by reasonable and good faith compliance with this section.
14 § 916-c. Pupils with epilepsy. 1. The board of education or trustees
15 of each school district and board of cooperative educational services
16 shall allow pupils who have been diagnosed by a physician or other duly
17 authorized health care provider with epilepsy to carry and use a
18 prescribed nasal spray for the emergency treatment of seizures during
19 the school day on school property and at any school function with the
20 written permission of a physician or other duly authorized health care
21 provider, and written parental consent. The written permission shall
22 include an attestation by such physician or health care provider
23 confirming: (a) the pupil's diagnosis of epilepsy for which a diazepam
24 or midazolam nasal spray is needed; and (b) that the pupil has demon-
25 strated that he or she can self-administer the prescribed diazepam or
26 midazolam nasal spray effectively. Such written permission shall also
27 include the circumstances which may warrant the use of a diazepam or
28 midazolam nasal spray. A record of such consent and permission shall be
29 maintained in the student's cumulative health record. In addition, upon
30 the written request of a parent or person in parental relation, the
31 board of education or trustees of a school district and board of coop-
32 erative educational services shall allow such pupils to maintain an
33 extra diazepam or midazolam nasal spray for the emergency treatment of
34 seizures in the care and custody of a licensed nurse, nurse practition-
35 er, physician assistant, or physician employed by such district or board
36 of cooperative educational services, and shall be readily accessible to
37 such pupil. Nothing in this section shall require a school district or
38 board of cooperative educational services to retain a licensed nurse,
39 nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or physician solely for the
40 purpose of taking custody of a spare diazepam or midazolam nasal spray
41 for the emergency treatment of seizures, or require that a licensed
42 nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or physician be avail-
43 able at all times in a school building for taking custody of the diazep-
44 am or midazolam nasal spray. In addition, the diazepam or midazolam
45 nasal spray provided by the pupil's parents or persons in parental
46 relation will be made available to the pupil as needed in accordance
47 with the school district's or board of cooperative educational services'
48 policy and the orders prescribed in the written permission of the physi-
49 cian or other authorized health care provider.
50 2. A school district, board of cooperative educational services and/or
51 their agents or employees shall incur no legal or financial liability as
52 a result of any harm or injury sustained by a pupil or other person
53 caused by reasonable and good faith compliance with this section.
54 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
