SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1332        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 823

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Thomas P. Kennedy

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To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act relative to podiatrists performing surgery..

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1332        FILED ON: 1/14/2009

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 823

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the Year Two Thousand Nine

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An Act relative to podiatrists performing surgery..

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

 Chapter 112 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 13 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 13. Podiatry as used in this chapter shall mean the diagnosis and treatment of the structures of the human foot and ankle by medical, mechanical, surgical, manipulative and electrical means, and expecting treatment of systematic conditions. The Board of Registration in Podiatry and the Board of Registration in Medicine shall jointly determine appropriate advanced educational and documentation requirements for ankle surgery. Podiatrists certified and registered to perform ankle surgery shall be subject to the provisions of sections five, five A, five I, and nine K.  This section and sections fourteen to twenty-two, inclusive, shall not apply to surgeons of the United States army, navy or the United States Public Health Service, nor to physicians registered in the commonwealth. The term physician and surgeon when used in sections twelve B, twelve G, twenty-three N and eighty B shall include a podiatrist acting within the limitation imposed by this section.