Amendment #20 to H4725

Preventing Death by Drug Overdose

Representatives Galvin of Canton and Kafka of Stoughton move to amend the bill in Section 19B, after subsection (h), by adding the following subsection:

(i) If a law enforcement official, firefighter or EMS personnel administers an opioid antagonist to a person suffering from an apparent drug overdose, such person shall be transported, with or without the person’s consent, by ambulance to a hospital for monitoring, observation and possible treatment until such time as the treating physician determines that the overdose has been reversed and the person is not in imminent danger. Law enforcement officials or EMS personnel may restrain a person, provided that the minimum necessary restraint shall be used. Any such restraint shall be noted in the written report of said emergency medical technician. If a law enforcement official reasonably believes that his or her safety or the safety of other persons present so requires, the officer may search the person and the immediate surroundings, but only to the extent necessary to discover and seize any dangerous weapons or instrumentation which may on that occasion be used against the officer or other person present.