When the therapeutic needs of a patient require that medication be initiated immediately and the services of a licensed pharmacy are not available within a five-mile radius of a hospital emergency room, a person associated with such hospital authorized to dispense medication may dispense up to a twenty-four-hour supply of medication, excluding controlled substances, to such patient. Such dispensing shall be authorized by a verbal order of a licensed practitioner. For purposes of this section, “licensed practitioner” means a physician on the staff of such hospital or other prescribing practitioner associated with such hospital who has examined such patient and determined the patient's therapeutic needs.
(P.A. 93-173, S. 2; P.A. 99-175, S. 40.)
History: Sec. 20-180a transferred to Sec. 20-622 in 1997; P.A. 99-175 made technical and gender neutral changes and deleted reference to Sec. 20-184a.