COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio House has unanimously approved a bill that will allow school personnel to administer epinephrine injections to students suffering possibly life-threatening allergic reactions.
The measure – co-sponsored by Worthington Republican Mike Duffey and Terry Johnson (R-McDermott) (pictured right) – permits a school district to stock doses of epinephrine on school premises and allows trained officials to give it to anyone showing signs of anaphylaxis.
Anaphylaxis is a severe allergic reaction which causes airways to tighten so a sufferer cannot breathe.
Duffey credits the ready-made doses, known as Epi-Pens, with saving his daughter’s life when her first allergic reaction to peanut butter was unexpectedly severe.
“This legislation is really for those people who have a child who, for the first time, is experiencing a bee sting, a food allergy, an antibiotic allergy, or whatever it is that they need to have this treatment for. We just don’t know what that first reaction or second reaction could be for a lot of people. This is permissive legislation that allows schools to do what is best for their students,” Duffey said.
The House Education Committee added residential or day camps to the list of organizations that get the auto-injectors without a license.
Under current law, Schools permit students to carry and self-administer an Epi-Pen only under a doctor’s prescription. But Duffey and Johnson cite the rise in previously undetected allergies as the reason behind bill.
Virginia and Maryland passed similar laws following the deaths of two young students due to anaphylaxis.