H-4116.1          _______________________________________________

                                  HOUSE BILL 2792

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State of Washington              54th Legislature             1996 Regular Session

By Representatives Dyer, Morris, Murray, Scheuerman and Dickerson

Read first time 01/19/96.  Referred to Committee on Health Care.

Permitting practitioners to prescribe, administer, or dispense a controlled substance in any quantity deemed medically indicated for the management or relief of a diagnosed condition causing intractable pain.

     AN ACT Relating to permitting practitioners to prescribe, administer, or dispense a controlled substance in any quantity deemed medically indicated for the management or relief of a diagnosed condition causing intractable pain; and adding a new section to chapter 69.50 RCW.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 69.50 RCW to read as follows:

     (1) This section may be known as the "intractable pain treatment act."

     (2) For the purposes of this section, "intractable pain" means a pain state in which the cause of pain cannot be removed or otherwise treated and which, in the generally accepted course of medical practice, no relief or cure of the cause of the pain is possible, or none has been found after reasonable effort.  Reasonable effort includes, but is not limited to, evaluation by the attending physician and one or more physicians specializing in the treatment of the area, system, or organ of the body perceived as the source of the pain.

     (3) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a practitioner may prescribe, administer, or dispense a controlled substance, including narcotics, in any quantity that the attending physician deems medically indicated for the management or relief of intractable pain.

     (4) In prescribing or administering a controlled substance for the management or relief of intractable pain, the attending physician shall observe department of health guidelines for the management of pain.

     (5) No practitioner who has complied with the terms of this section shall be subject to administrative sanction, or civil or criminal liability, for prescribing, administering, or dispensing a controlled substance for use in the course of treating a person for intractable pain.

     (6) Nothing in this section shall be construed to grant a practitioner immunity from investigation or disciplinary action based on the prescription, administration, or dispensing of a controlled substance in violation of this chapter.

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