N.Y. Education Law § 916: Pupils with asthma or another respiratory disease requiring rescue inhaler treatment

§ 916. Pupils with asthma or another respiratory disease requiring

rescue inhaler treatment. 1. The board of education or trustees of each

school district and board of cooperative educational services shall

allow pupils who have been diagnosed by a physician or other duly

authorized health care provider with an asthmatic condition or another

respiratory disease to carry and use a prescribed inhaler and

self-administer inhaled rescue medications to alleviate respiratory

symptoms or to prevent the onset of exercise induced asthmatic symptoms

during the school day on school property and at any school function as

such terms are defined, respectively, by subdivisions one and two of

section eleven of this chapter, with the written permission of a

physician or other duly authorized health care provider, and written

parental consent. The written permission shall include an attestation by

the physician or the health care provider confirming the following: (a)

the pupil is diagnosed with asthma or another respiratory disease for

which inhaled rescue medications are prescribed to alleviate respiratory

symptoms or to prevent the onset of exercise induced asthmatic symptoms;

and (b) that the pupil has demonstrated that he or she can

self-administer the prescribed inhaled rescue medication effectively.

The written permission shall also include the name of the prescribed

inhaled rescue medication, the dose, the times when the medication is to

be taken, the circumstances which may warrant the use of the medication

and the length of time for which the inhaler is prescribed. A record of

such consent and permission shall be maintained in the student's

cumulative health record. In addition, upon the written request of a

parent or person in parental relation, the board of education or

trustees of a school district and board of cooperative educational

services shall allow such pupils to maintain an extra such inhaler in

the care and custody of a licensed nurse, nurse practitioner, physician

assistant, or physician employed by such district or board of

cooperative educational services, and shall be readily accessible to

such pupil. Nothing in this section shall require a school district or

board of cooperative educational services to retain a licensed nurse,

nurse practitioner, physician assistant, or physician solely for the

purpose of taking custody of a spare inhaler for the treatment of asthma

or a respiratory disease requiring rescue medication treatment, or

require that a licensed nurse, nurse practitioner, physician assistant,

or physician be available at all times in a school building for the

purpose of taking custody of the inhaler. In addition, the medication

provided by the pupil's parents or persons in parental relation shall be

made available to the pupil as needed in accordance with the school

district's or board of cooperative educational services' policy and the

orders prescribed in the written permission of the physician or other

authorized health care provider.

2. A school district, board of cooperative educational services and/or

their agents or employees shall incur no legal or financial liability as

a result of any harm or injury sustained by a pupil or other person

caused by reasonable and good faith compliance with this section.