Connecticut Governor Vetoes New Regulations For Medical Spas

Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy vetoed a bill that would have imposed new standards on “medical spas” providing cosmetic medical procedures.

The medical spas bill would have required a physician to act as a spa’s medical director, perform every initial assessment and perform or supervise all cosmetic medical procedures. The bills passed with the support of trial lawyers and labor lawyers and associations representing dermatologists and plastic surgeons who claimed that physician only oversight would improve patient safety.

Governer Malloy said that could unnecessarily limit the scope of practice of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses and other licensed medical professionals and that a professional board or the Department of Public Health should make such recommendations and that both bills were "deficient".

“Protecting public health is an essential role of government, and I strongly support the objectives of this bill,” Malloy wrote. “Many of the procedures covered in this bill should only be performed by a licensed medical professional.”

But the governor said the bill may unnecessarily limit the scope of practice of other medical professionals like Advanced Practice Registered Nurses writing, “Requiring physicians employed or on contract with a medical spa to perform all initial assessments may also unduly burden small businesses if such assessments could be done by another medical professional or an individual’s own physician”.

Thoughtful comments welcome.