NV gov. urges reconsideration of flu shot rules:

http://www.mercurynews.com/california/ci_13465008?nclick_check=1

The Associated Press
Posted: 10/01/2009 05:11:28 PM PDT
Updated: 10/01/2009 06:01:38 PM PDT

CARSON CITY, Nev.—Gov. Jim Gibbons on Thursday urged the Nevada Board of Medical Examiners to seek reconsideration of a judge's ruling that voided an emergency regulation allowing medical assistants to give flu shots.

Clark County District Judge Kathleen Delaney this week voided the board's Sept. 18 approval because of Open Meeting Law violations.

Gibbons in a written statement said his office as been "flooded" with calls from concerned parents and doctors.

The emergency regulation would have permitted medical assistants to give flu shots and other vaccines, but prohibit them from injecting cosmetic drugs such as Botox.

Some Nevada health clinics prohibited medical assistants from giving the shots last month after regulators' review of a 30-year-old state law found that medical assistants were not authorized to give them.

Gibbons then sought the emergency regulation, saying he feared there wouldn't be enough health care professionals to inoculate people during the upcoming flu season unless the regulations were clarified.

At the medical board hearing, some board members had to leave for luncheon engagements, so the panel voted unanimously to pass the regulations before it lost its quorum.

The action was challenged by a lawyer for two medical spa owners, who argued the approval violated the Open Meeting Law because the vote was taken before all public comment was heard.

The judge agreed and voided the action.