North Carolina Senate Bill 31 (2011)

Over the weekend a great panic developed over SB31.  It is revising the penalties indicated in NC General Statute 90-18(a) so that the penalty is the same whether you're coming from out-of-state or are in-state.  If you'd like some cross-eyed reading you can pick through the entire GS90.  Otherwise, what is causing the panic is what is NOT included in the list in 90-18(c)...naturopathy, homeopathy, aromatherapy, etc.  They are not even searchable terms throughout the entirity of the General Statutes.  What is specifically stated in 90-18(c)(1) is that "the administration of domestic or family remedies...shall not constitute practicing medicine or surgery as defined in this Article."

Another spot of panic regarding SB31 is in regards to the current situation with midwifery in the state.  There is a concern that the CPMs that are caught illegally providing services (currently only CNMs are legally permitted to provide care for pre-, peri-, and post-natal mothers) will now be prosecuted as a Class I felony.  The practice of midwifery is covered in Article 10A of GS90 and GS90-178.7(b) clearly states:   Any person who violates G.S. 90‑178.3(a) shall be guilty of a Class 3 misdemeanor.  The penalty is already established within the Practice article and should not be impacted by the change to 90-18(a).

A mother on a local e-list shared the form letter response received from Senator Mansfield regarding her concerns about the midwifery question.  I feel that his response sheds some additional light, especially when he states "to ensure that this would not be misinterpreted as to delve into scope of practice issues."

Thank you for taking the time to write the General Assembly. I am the primary sponsor of this bill. This bill has nothing to do with midwives and is not trying to place midwives in prison. This bill is in direct relation to an incident that occurred in Cumberland County where a person who impersonated a physician was caught in the ER. He then went to Tennessee and did the same exact thing. Currently, if you have an out of state license and come into our state and impersonate a physician then it is a felony. If you are in state and impersonate a physician, it is a misdemeanor. This law attempts to close that discrepancy.

Before I filed this bill, I discussed this with Russ Spigett, your lobbyist, the NC Medical Board, and the NC Medical Society to ensure that this bill would not be used as a tool for a witch hunt. The NC Med Board helped change the language to ensure that this would not be misinterpreted as to delve into scope of practice issues. Mr. Spiggett did not speak against it on the Senate side during public debate, nor did any other profession where there are current scope of practice issues.

This bill has no impact on the licensure that the professional midwives are trying to get through Sen Goolsby. The bill will be amended to say that midwives will remain a misdemeanor.

Thank you for being engaged and if you have further questions please write back.

Massage and bodywork therapies have their own practice act within GS90 and should not be impacted in any form by SB31, in my opinion.  I have not, however, ferreted out any information yet as to how all of this might effect my pediatric aromatherapy preparations--it has been a couple of years since I've explored and researched all of that...I would not have embarked upon providing them to others if there was risk of being against the law--and nothing in the law has changed (or is changing) except for this streamlining of practicing-without-a-license penalties.