AUSTIN (KXAN) — Proposed legislation to enhance patient safety and tighten Texas laws over who can administer Botox injections — and similar treatments — was introduced to the Senate Business and Commerce Committee at the Capitol this week.
The legislation comes after a KXAN investigation uncovered that anyone can become certified to do injections, including Botox, and the need for more oversight for patient safety.
The committee learned the details of Senate Bill 378 from State Sen. Charles Schwertner, R-Georgetown, who is also a medical doctor. He filed the same bill last session before it stalled after passing the Senate.
“I’ll call this the Botox party bill,” said Schwertner, whose proposed legislation would prevent barbers, cosmetologists, and estheticians from administering Botox and other injectables unless they are licensed or authorized to give the shots.
“There have been increased reports of estheticians administering unauthorized and unsafe injections to friends and family without proper physician supervision,” Schwertner stated.
In May, KXAN’s “Backroom Botox,” highlighted a medical emergency under investigation by the police department in Dublin, a small city north of Austin. A woman who wanted her privacy protected told KXAN investigators that she had fainted after getting a Botox treatment in the back room of a shop in town.
According to the EMS report, the “Backroom Botox” procedure resulted in Dublin woman having a five-minute seizure and vomiting.
The supervising physician listed for the Dublin Botox provider was a pediatrician, over three hours away.
Schwertner said his bill focuses on patient safety and the need for clearer regulatory oversight and disciplinary jurisdiction over cosmetologists and estheticians administering unauthorized injections.
If passed, Schwertner’s bill would give the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation the statutory authority to take disciplinary action against those administering unauthorized injections.
“Somebody needs to be regulating what’s going on,” said Dr. Patricia Aronin with TX400, a grassroots group of doctors advocating for patient safety across the state.
Aronin, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, spoke in favor of Schwertner’s bill at the committee hearing this week and explained the risks and consequences associated with getting injections from providers who don’t have the proper medical training or experience to safely do so.
“We can teach a monkey to operate, it’s learning who and on what procedure and when and how to manage complications that take all the years of training,” Aronin said.
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