The Montana Medical Association's Board of Trustees has adopted a new position statement: Licensing Boards "should not adopt rules that would expand the scope of practice of Montana's licensed health care professionals without first having clear statutory authorization to do so."[1]
Our legal challenges to Position Statement No. 20 include this same reasoning, that Position Statement No. 20 is an invalid expansion of a physician's scope of practice without statutory authority.[2]
We are encouraged to see the Montana Medical Association adopting a similar position.
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[1] The MMA's new position statement can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here.
[2] Position Statement No. 20 is subject to two legal challenges by Montanans Against Assisted Suicide (MAAS). The first is a formal petition to the Board of Medical Examiners, to request an actual ruling, which has been denied to date. That petition can be viewed by clicking here. The second legal challenge is a petition to the First Judicial Court of Lewis and Clark County setting forth MAAS' substantive arguments. To view the amended petition, filed on October 12, 2012, click here; to view the attachments to that petition, click here.
