2006 Louisiana Laws - RS 40:1231 — Definitions

PART VII.  EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

SUBPART A.  GENERAL PROVISIONS

§1231.  Definitions

For purposes of this Part:

(1)  "Ambulance" means any authorized emergency vehicle, equipped with warning devices, designed and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to transport a sick or injured  individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the public as such.  "Ambulance" shall not mean a hearse or other funeral home vehicle utilized for the transportation of the dead.

(2)  "Ambulance service" or "ambulance provider" means any person, firm, association, or government entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service which furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage in, or professes to engage in the business or service of transporting, in ambulances, individuals who may need medical attention during transport.  However, "ambulance service" and "ambulance provider" shall not include any of the following:

(a)  An agency of the federal government.

(b)  A volunteer nonprofit organization or municipal nonprofit organization operating an invalid coach or coaches.

(c)  An entity rendering assistance to a licensed ambulance or ambulances in the case of a major disaster.

(d)  A licensed hospital providing nonemergency, noncritical interhospital transfer and patient transportation for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes when such transportation originates at a licensed hospital.

(e)  An entity operating an ambulance or ambulances from a location outside of the state to transport patients from a location outside of the state to a location inside the state or to transport a patient or patients from a medical facility inside of the state to a location outside of the state.

(f)  An entity providing transportation to employees who become sick or injured during the course of their employment from a job site to the nearest  appropriate medical facility.

(3)  "Air ambulance" means any aircraft, either fixed-wing or rotary-winged, designed and operated as a part of a regular course of conduct or business to transport a sick or injured individual or which is advertised or otherwise held out to the public as such.

(3.1)  "Air ambulance service" means any person, firm, association, or government entity owning, controlling, or operating any business or service which furnishes, operates, conducts, maintains, advertises, engages in, proposes to engage in, or professes to engage in the business or service of transporting, in air ambulances, individuals who may need medical attention during transport.

(3.2)  "Auto-injector" means a spring-loaded needle and syringe with a single dose of epinephrine that will automatically release and inject the medicine.

(4)  "Bureau" means the Department of Health and Hospitals, office of public health, bureau of emergency medical services.

(5)  "Certified emergency medical technician" means an individual who is certified as any one of the following:

(a)  A certified emergency medical technician-basic.

(b)  A certified emergency medical technician-intermediate.

(c)  A certified emergency medical technician-paramedic.

(6)  "Certified emergency medical technician-basic" means an individual who has successfully completed an  emergency medical technician-basic training program developed and promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation and adopted by the bureau, who is nationally registered, and who is certified by the bureau.

(7)  "Certified emergency medical technician-intermediate" means any individual who has successfully completed an emergency medical technician-intermediate training program developed and promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation and adopted by the bureau, who is nationally registered, and who is certified by the bureau.

(8)  "Certified emergency medical technician-paramedic" means any individual who has successfully completed an emergency medical technician-paramedic training program developed and promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation and adopted by the  bureau, who is nationally registered, and who is certified by the bureau.

(9)  "Certified first responder" means any individual who has successfully completed a training course developed and promulgated by the United States Department of Transportation and adopted by the bureau and who is certified by the bureau.

(10)  "Commission" means the Louisiana Emergency Medical Services Certification Commission.

(11)  "Department" means the Department of Health and Hospitals.

(12)  "Emergency medical personnel" or "emergency service person(s)" means individuals who are certified first responders or certified emergency medical technicians.

(13)  "Emergency medical response vehicle" means a marked emergency vehicle with fully visual and audible warning signals operated by a certified ambulance service, the primary purpose of which is to respond to the scene of a medical emergency to provide emergency medical stabilization or support, or command, control, and communications, but which is not an ambulance designed or intended for the purpose of transporting a victim from the scene to a medical facility regardless of its designation.  Included are such vehicles referred to but not limited to the designation as "sprint car", "quick response vehicle", "special response vehicle", "triage trucks", "staff cars", "supervisor units", and other similar designations.  Emergency medical response vehicles shall not include fire apparatus and law enforcement patrol vehicles which carry first aid or emergency medical supplies and which respond to medical emergencies as part of their routine duties.

(14)  "Emergency medical services" or "EMS" means a system that represents the combined efforts of several professionals and agencies to provide prehospital emergency care to the sick and injured.

(14.1)  "EMS professional" means an individual who is a certified first responder or certified emergency medical technician.

(15)  "EMS task force" means the Emergency Medical Services Task Force, composed of individuals appointed by the assistant secretary of the office of public health, subject to the approval of the secretary of the department, which advises and makes recommendations to the office and the department on matters related to emergency medical services.

(16)  "First aid certificate" means a certificate in the  Emergency Response Course issued by the American Red Cross or other certificate in a first aid course approved by the bureau and issued to any individual who has successfully completed the required training and met the established standards of such organizations.

(17)  "Industrial ambulance" means any vehicle owned and operated by an industrial facility and used for transporting any employee who becomes sick, injured, or otherwise incapacitated in the course and scope of his employment from a job site to an appropriate medical facility.

(18)  "Moral turpitude" means an act of baseness, vileness, or depravity in the duties which one person owes another, or to society in general, which is contrary to the usual, accepted, and customary rule of right and duty which a person should follow.

(19)  "Municipal nonprofit organization" means an organization owned by a parish, municipality, or entity of a parish or municipality which in its regular course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician.

(20)  "Physician" means a physician licensed to practice medicine by the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners.

(21)  "Volunteer nonprofit organization" means an organization which in its regular course of business responds to a call for help and renders medical treatment and whose attendants are emergency medical personnel, a registered nurse, or a physician and which is chartered as a nonprofit organization under Section 501c of the United States Internal Revenue Code, as a volunteer fire department by the Louisiana state fire marshal's office, or as a nonprofit organization by the Louisiana secretary of state.

Amended by Acts 1968, No. 278, §1; Acts 1976, No. 393, §1; Acts 1977, No. 626, §1; Acts 1978, No. 469, §1; Acts 1978, No. 786, §5, eff. July 17, 1978; Acts 1979, No. 554, §1; Acts 1985, No. 750, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1987; Acts 1991, No. 974, §1, eff. July 24, 1991; Acts 1997, No. 297, §2; Acts 1997, No. 913, §2; Acts 1999, No. 1113, §1; Acts 1999, No. 1114, §1; Acts 2001, No. 385, §1; Acts 2001, No. 625, §2; Acts 2003, No. 208, §1.