Bipartisan group brings VETS bill to Senate

Washington, DC-A bipartisan group of five senators has introduced the Veterans Eye Treatment Safety Act of 2004 in the U.S. Senate.

The bill would ensure that only qualified medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, or licensed dentists who specialize in oral or maxillofacial surgery may perform ocular surgery on veterans within the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health-care system.

Sponsors included Sens. Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), and Fritz Hollings (D-SC).

A similar bill is pending in the House, where it was introduced last November and has 71 co-sponsors.

The Senate version includes a provision for optometrists to perform noninvasive procedures, such as the insertion of punctal plugs, punctal dilation, and epilation of eyelashes.