Eye Surgery – “Not to Be Taken Lightly”

The American Medical Association (AMA’s) will continue to “fight legislation like California’s Optometry Bill,” says ophthalmologist and AMA trustee Davis A. Aizuss in an interview on the AMA’s website (the transcript is also published).

Aizuss explains how the AMA’s Scope of Practice Partnership (SOPP) worked with the California Academy of Eye Physicians and Surgeons, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and other specialty societies to defeat the recent California Assembly Bill AB 2236, which would have allowed optometrists to “perform advanced eye procedures, including surgery, after completing minimal additional training.” (California Governor Newsom vetoed the bill at the end of September.)

The SOPP played a major role in this campaign, pointing out the differences in education and training of ophthalmologists and optometrists “through letters to the legislature and directly to the Governor,” says Aizuss.

“Surgery on or around the human eye is not something to be taken lightly,” he explains. “There’s certainly a place for optometrists on the eye care team. But students of optometry are not exposed to standard surgical treatment, to standard surgical procedure training, to aseptic surgical technique or to the medical response to adverse surgical events in their education.”

Defeating this type of legislation is always a team effort, says Aizuss, and “demonstrates the strength of organized medicine nationwide.”