NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1965 SESSION

CHAPTER 810
HOUSE BILL 1010

AN ACT TO PERMIT LICENSED PHYSICIANS TO RENDER NECESSARY EMERGENCY TREATMENT TO A MINOR WHERE THE PARENTS OF SAID MINOR CANNOT BE CONTACTED.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1.  It shall be lawful for any physician licensed to practice medicine in North Carolina to render treatment to any minor without first obtaining the consent and approval of either the father or mother of said child, or any person acting as guardian, or any person standing in loco parentis to said child where:
(a)	The parent or parents, the guardian, or a person standing in loco parentis to said child cannot be located or contacted with reasonable diligence during the time within which said minor needs to receive the treatment herein authorized, or
(b)	Where the identity of the child is unknown, or where the necessity for immediate treatment is so apparent that any effort to secure approval would delay the treatment so long as to endanger the life of said minor, or
(c)	Where an effort to contact a parent, guardian, or person standing in loco parentis would result in a delay that would seriously worsen the physical condition of said minor.
Sec. 2.  The word "treatment" as used in Section 1 of this Act is hereby defined to mean any medical procedure or treatment, including X-rays, the administration of drugs, blood transfusions, use of anesthetics, and laboratory or other diagnostic procedures employed by or ordered by a physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that is used, employed, or ordered to be used or employed commensurate with the exercise of reasonable care and equal to the standards of medical practice normally employed in the community where said physician administers treatment to said minor.
Sec. 3.  The word "treatment" as defined in Section 2 of this Act shall also include any surgical procedure which in the opinion of the attending physician is necessary under the terms and conditions set out in Section 1 of this Act; provided, however, no surgery shall be conducted upon a minor as herein authorized unless the surgeon shall first obtain the opinion of another physician licensed to practice medicine in the State of North Carolina that said surgery is necessary under the conditions set forth in Section 1 of this Act; provided further, that in any emergency situation that shall arise in a rural community, or in a community where it is impossible for the surgeon to contact any other physician for the purpose of obtaining his opinion as to the necessity for immediate surgery, it shall not be necessary for the surgeon to obtain approval from another physician before performing such surgery as is necessary under the terms and conditions set forth in Section 1 of this Act.
Sec. 4.  Any physician administering treatment to a minor under the terms, conditions, and circumstances herein authorized shall not be liable in damages for administering treatment to a minor without first having obtained permission from the minor's father or mother or guardian or from a person standing in loco parentis to said minor.
Sec. 5.  All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 6.  This Act shall not affect pending litigation.
Sec. 7.  This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 3rd day of June, 1965.