2010 Tennessee Code
Title 68 - Health, Safety and Environmental Protection
Chapter 140 - Emergency Services
Part 5 - Emergency Medical Services Act of 1983
68-140-509 - Duties and authority of EMS personnel and physician on the scene.

68-140-509. Duties and authority of EMS personnel and physician on the scene.

(a)  EMS personnel shall exercise the skills and abilities needed to render appropriate emergency medical care and provide emergency medical services in accordance with authorized procedures in the respective level of training, and shall administer care to patients based upon knowledge and application of principles derived from accepted practice and medical approval, and shall fully comply with the board's regulations governing activities and performance for the category of license or certification. An EMT, physician or nurse shall accompany and attend every patient transported by ambulance in this state. Nothing in this part shall be construed to authorize or require any medical treatment or transportation to any hospital or emergency care facility of a patient who objects to the treatment or transport on religious grounds.

(b)  If the EMT or EMT-P and the physician on the scene disagree on the proper course of treatment, the physician should confer with the base hospital physician before ordering treatment. When no base hospital physician is available, the physician on the scene controls.

(c)  An EMT or EMT-P may function within hospital emergency services under nursing supervision in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the hospital.

[Acts 1983, ch. 440, § 11; 1990, ch. 932, § 2; 1990, ch. 1060, §§ 1, 2; T.C.A., § 68-39-509; Acts 1992, ch. 796, § 4; 1993, ch. 273, § 2; 1997, ch. 161, §§ 1, 2.]