He also said the city will move to narrow Washington and Jefferson boulevards downtown.A controversial patient safety ordinance could receive renewed attention next year.
Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters said Friday he plans to introduce for discussion a revised version of the ordinance early next year.
The ordinance would regulate all outpatient surgical procedures including vasectomies, colonoscopies, liposuction and abortions – a much broader category of procedures than a plan introduced in 2008.
Previous versions of the proposed law would have required doctors performing abortion procedures in Allen County to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. The lone doctor to perform abortions here lives in Illinois and also works in South Bend and Gary.
Abortion-rights supporters have said that the law could prevent Dr. George Klopfer or other doctors from offering abortions if they could not obtain privileges. That would limit options for women who seek an abortion.
Peters’ new proposal would also require admitting privileges. But the physician could appoint a backup doctor with local hospital privileges to provide assistance.
Peters worked with a handful of lawyers and several local physicians to draft the revisions. Allen County residents are suffering post-surgical complications from procedures such as hysterectomies and liposuction, Peters said.
“People are injured in the community because there isn’t oversight,” he said.
Peters called this version improved and said while it includes abortion procedures, the intent is not to limit access to abortion.
This year, the General Assembly considered similar legislation, but unrelated amendments both broadened the bill and added to the cost, dooming the measure.
Abortion-rights supporters and opponents do not expect the issue to come up again this year.
The short session and critical financial and property tax issues will likely draw their attention elsewhere, said Betty Cockrum, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana.
Cockrum believes the matter has been addressed at the state level. She is concerned that individual counties would reconsider local ordinances.
Cathie Humbarger, executive director of Allen County Right to Life, was pleased that the commissioners will reconsider such an ordinance.
“We are certainly anxious to see something that’s going to protect patients in Allen County regardless of what type of invasive procedure,” Humbarger said.
Her group initially pitched the patient safety ordinance to the commissioners because they were concerned about women suffering complications after an abortion. They wanted a way to track complications and hold those doctors accountable.
Local doctors suggested closing a loophole in state administrative law, which governs medical facilities and doctors, to ensure that all doctors regardless of specialty or procedure could be held accountable.
A statewide group of doctors has asked the Indiana Medical Licensing Board to consider amending the administrative code. But a year has passed and the board has yet to place the issue on its monthly agenda, said Lawrence McCormack, assistant director of government relations for the Indiana State Medical Association.
