Bill > SB1153

This bill, amending Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 63, Chapter 1, Part 1, aims to regulate when physicians and podiatrists (doctors of podiatric medicine) can treat themselves or their immediate family, which includes spouses, parents, children, siblings, or anyone with whom a personal or emotional connection might compromise professional judgment. Generally, physicians and podiatrists are prohibited from prescribing, administering, or dispensing medication, or otherwise treating themselves or their immediate family, except in specific circumstances. These exceptions include short-term, minor, or acute emergency situations for any medication, and for scheduled drugs (medications classified under federal law as having a potential for abuse or addiction, such as certain pain relievers or stimulants), only in acute emergency situations. However, physicians and podiatrists may treat their immediate family within their regular scope of practice if no other healthcare provider is available within a 30-mile radius of their practice. The bill also addresses situations where a supervisee (an individual working under a physician or podiatrist's direct supervision) has an established patient-provider relationship with their supervisor; in such cases, the supervisee can treat their supervising physician or podiatrist, or their immediate family, but only in acute or emergency situations, and this restriction extends to scheduled drugs as well. All such treatments must be documented.