In Douglas County last year, there were over 3,300 reported cases of chlamydia and more than 860 cases of gonorrhoea, and Howard asserted that this new measure could help people who are unable or unwilling to go to the doctor receive treatment, which, in turn, could guard others’ wellbeing against the spread of STDs.
The diseases can cause pregnant mothers to miscarry or pass illnesses or blindness to their babies, but Howard said the bill is needed to help prevent this. ‘I feel it would be inexcusable for the members of this body to ignore the serious public health effects in our communities of these diseases simply because we don’t approve of the causes,’ she urged.
If the LB528 bill were to become a reality, you would have to provide your partner’s name so that it could be printed on the prescription, and doctors would still be advised to follow Centre for Disease Control (CDC) procedures of calling the partner and asking about allergies. One aspect of the bill may require physicians to write STD and sexual health information down and give it to their patients, so that they could pass it on to their sexual partners.
Howard explained that some doctors already give prescriptions to treat STDs to partners, but the bill would enable doctors to feel more comfortable doing so. Yet Senator Lydia Brasch of Bancroft is hesitant to allow partner treatment without a medical exam, due to the risky side effects of prescription drugs and the question of follow-up care responsibility for a partner. She said, ‘This is not good policy to prescribe any medication without seeing the patient.’