When you go to an urgent care center or the emergency room for help, you might not actually be seen by a doctor: The person examining you is wearing a white coat or scrubs and a stethoscope but could be a physician assistant or PA. 

That’s OK if you have a minor ailment; otherwise it could cost you your life.

George Trovato, 39, went to an urgent care center in Wading River, NY, for joint pain. A PA told him to start an exercise routine and sent him home.

Two weeks later he was dead from a heart attack.

His wife is suing, claiming he didn’t know he wasn’t being seen by a doctor, and he didn’t get the diagnostic tests that might have saved his life.

Yet Gov. Kathy Hochul is pushing to allow PAs more freedom to practice without a doctor’s supervision, worsening the danger that already exists.

Right now the law requires PAs to be supervised, though that can mean a review of patients’ charts many hours after the fact. 

Supervision requirements went by the wayside during COVID. 

Hochul’s proposal would codify letting PAs do almost everything a physician does, including diagnose, without review.

After many tragedies, the British National Health System is doing precisely the opposite: On Jan. 28, the NHS announced it will reduce the use of........

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