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. 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, New York, 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 didn't get the diagnostic tests that might have saved his life.

Yet New York 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-19. Hochul's proposal would codify letting PAs do almost everything a physician does, including diagnosing, without review.

After many tragedies, the UK's National Health Service (NHS) is doing precisely the opposite. On January 28, the NHS announced it will reduce the use of PAs and bar them from treating undiagnosed patients.

Overreliance on PAs........

© Townhall