Representative Barbara Bollier (R-Prairie Village) stood before the Kansas house today, not just as a representative, but as the only elected doctor and offered her fellow legislators some advice: “Do not do this.” The bill she was referring to would make significant changes in acceptable practice of handling close head injuries — or concussions — for players of Kansas High School sports. Under the rule change, medical doctors would no longer be required in order to clear a student; instead, Chiropractors would be allowed to fulfill that role.
Aghast at the idea that the legislature would proceed on the legislation, Representative Bollier implored them to listen to a former practicing physician: “Your child. Your child. What do you want that’s best for your child?”
Republicans, however, were disinterested in this argument, and the legislation sailed through.
Republicans argued during the session that this seemed to be “a spat between doctors and chiropractors”, noting that chiropractors would of course “seek a second opinion” if “anything seemed off”. This seemed to run afoul of the main argument for the bill: that football players in communities were having to drive to get the previously required CT/MRIs and other treatments just to get a signature to take back to the field.
http://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/article61787482.html
Rep. Dick Jones, R-Topeka, argued that chiropractors are doctors under Kansas law. He said that allowing them to make the diagnosis would expand access to rural communities where there may not be an M.D.
“Let’s give the communities in the rural areas at least have the chance to have a functioning sports program,” Jones said.
The bill is backed by the Kansas Chiropractors Association and opposed by the Kansas Medical Society and other physicians’ groups.
Rep. John Whitmer, R-Wichita, dismissed the dispute as a “turf war between M.D.’s and chiropractors.” He said that in committee he was persuaded to support the bill by a high school football coach from western Kansas whose players have to drive to Wichita to find a physician “to sign a piece of paper.”
The desire to put players back on the field because they seem OK was the priority in the state house. That priority, however, flies in the face of concerns athletic trainers nationwide of cited, noting that a medical authority is needed to prevent trainers or others from being pressured into putting a child back onto the field when they are not ready.
Noting that the decision to diagnose a concussion on the field and to clear a player to return to play were very different concepts, Bollier had hoped her experience as a doctor would sway some votes, reminding me again of her initial statement: “do not do this”.
The bill passed, however, when Republican Blake Carpenter (R-Derby) closed with his solution to her concerns:
It will be of little solace for children who are rushed back on the field or cleared days later without a proper work up, that malpractice claim will be little comfort if real damage is done. For Kansas Republicans, though, providing a student athlete a way to get back on the field, quickly, seemed the priority. After all, a real checkup, maybe involving an MRI? It’s just a piece of paper, and moderate Republicans were left, once again, in the cold, as their conservative fellow Republicans — the ones who booted them off of committees like Health & Human Services, treated their concerns with snide remarks and punch lines. After all, it is only the health of a few student athletes.
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