As a doctor of medicine who has taken a solemn oath to do no harm, I am extremely troubled by a bill sponsored by state Rep. Manny Diaz, R-Hialeah, that would allow optometrists — practitioners who do not go to medical school — to use scalpels and lasers to perform surgery on the human eye.
The 2025 Legislative Session in Florida officially begins on Tuesday, March 4. Dangerous legislation has already been filed (HB 449) which would give the Florida Board of Optometry full control to determine the scope of practice for optometrists. Furthermore the proposed legislation would grant broad and unprecedented surgical privileges to optometrists, who are not medical doctors and who are not trained to perform surgery, including lasers, as well as expand their prescribing privileges to include opioids. With Florida being the epicenter of the opioid epidemic, it would be catastrophic for the Legislature to expand optometry’s prescribing authority to over 4,000 non-medical professionals. This type of dangerous legislation puts the health and well-being of millions of Floridians at risk and we cannot stand by and watch this bill make its way through the Legislature.
Help protect Florida's high standards of patient safety by contacting both your Representative. Let them know that patient safety is at risk in Florida and ask them to "Vote NO!"
On Thursday, March 20, dangerous legislation (HB 449) that would greatly expand the scope of practice for optometrists will be heard in the Florida House Health Professions & Programs Subcommittee.Organized optometry is pushing legislation to give the Florida Board of Optometry full control to determine the scope of practice for optometrists. Optometry is seeking to expand their scope to include injections, scalpel eyelid and laser eye surgery. Finally, if this legislation passes it would also extend optometry’s prescribing authority to virtually all oral medications, including opioids.
We need all ophthalmologists help in reaching out to members of the Florida House Health Professions & Programs Subcommittee to educate them them about the vast differences in education of ophthalmologists and optometrists and ask them to vote against this dangerous legislation. Click here to write members of the committee.