An optometrist diagnosing or treating eye disease shall be held to the same standard of care to which physicians and surgeons and osteopathic physicians and surgeons are held. An optometrist shall consult with and, if necessary, refer to a physician and surgeon or other appropriate health care provider when a situation or condition occurs that is beyond the optometrists’s scope of practice. Consultations, referrals, and notifications required by this section shall be documented in the patient record.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 549, Sec. 3. (AB 443) Effective January 1, 2018.)