Senate Bill No. 385
(By Senators Chafin, Bailey, Wiedebusch, Deem, Boley, Buckalew,
Plymale, Bowman, Wagner, Ross and Helmick)
____________
[Introduced February 16, 1995; referred to the Committee
on Government Organization.]
____________
A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article eight, chapter
thirty of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine
hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to amending the
definition of the practice of optometry.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article eight, chapter thirty of the code
of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as
amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 8. OPTOMETRISTS.
§30-8-2. Practice of optometry defined.
Any one or any combination of the following practices, as
determined and approved by the West Virginia board of optometry
to be within the scope of optometric education and training, shall constitute the practice of optometry:
(a) The examination of the human eye, by any method, with or
without the use of drugs prescribable for the human eye, which
drugs may be used for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes for
topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye
only, and, by any method other than surgery, to diagnose, to
treat or to refer for consultation or treatment any abnormal
condition of the human eye or its appendages;
(b) The employment without the use of surgery of any
instrument, device, method or diagnostic or therapeutic drug, and
the performance or ordering of any procedure or laboratory tests,
for topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye
intended for the purpose of investigating, examining, treating,
diagnosing, improving or correcting any visual defect or abnormal
condition of the human eye or its appendages;
(c) The prescribing and application or the replacement or
duplication of lenses, prisms, contact lenses, orthoptics, vision
training, vision rehabilitation, diagnostic or therapeutic drugs
for topical application to the anterior segment of the human eye,
or the furnishing or providing of any prosthetic device, or any
other method other than surgery necessary to correct or relieve any defects or abnormal conditions of the human eye or its
appendages.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit an
optometrist to perform surgery, use drugs by injection or to use
or prescribe any drug for other than the specific purposes
authorized by this section.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to update the definition
of the practice of optometry in order to make it consistent with
current optometric practices.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.