GA Code § 43-29-18 (2021)
2021 Georgia Code|Title 43 - Professions and Businesses|Chapter 29 - Dispensing Opticians|§ 43-29-18. Construction of Chapter

  Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize or permit any person to hold himself out as being able, or to offer, undertake, or attempt, by any means or method, to examine eyes or to diagnose, treat, correct, relieve, operate, or prescribe for any human ailment, deficiency, deformity, disease, injury, pain, or physical condition.   Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or restrict, in any respect, the practice of medicine by duly licensed physicians authorized to practice under Article 2 of Chapter 34 of this title or the practice of optometry by duly licensed optometrists authorized to practice under Chapter 30 of this title. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to limit or restrict a duly licensed physician or optometrist from the practices enumerated and defined in this chapter; and such licensed physician or optometrist shall have all the rights and privileges which may accrue under this chapter to dispensing opticians licensed under this chapter.   Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to impede, limit, prevent, or restrict the furnishing, selling, or supplying of any commodities or services by any manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, vendor, or distributor of any commodities or services to any manufacturer, wholesaler, jobber, vendor, or distributor thereof or to or as agent for any physician, optometrist, or dispensing optician or to any clinic, infirmary, or hospital or to any school, college, or university.   Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit an unlicensed person from performing merely mechanical work upon inert materials in an optical office or laboratory.   The services and appliances relating to optical dispensing shall be dispensed, furnished, or supplied to the intended wearer or user thereof only upon prescription issued by a physician or an optometrist; but duplications, replacements, reproductions, or repetitions may be done without prescription, in which event any such act shall be construed to be optical dispensing the same as if performed on the basis of an original written prescription.   Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to require an employee of a licensed physician or a licensed optometrist to secure a license under this chapter or be otherwise subject to this chapter, so long as such employee is working exclusively for and under the direct supervision of such licensed physician or optometrist or licensed optician and does not hold himself out to the public generally as a dispensing optician.    (Ga. L. 1956, p. 148, §§ 8, 14; Ga. L. 1992, p. 6, § 43; Ga. L. 1994, p. 97, § 43; Ga. L. 1999, p. 81, § 43.)   OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL   Board cannot establish rules and regulations regarding one's outside activities.   - State Board of Dispensing Opticians does not have authority to establish rules and regulations, with reference to a person's outside activities, and thus refuse to issue a license to one otherwise qualified under the law. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 549.   Restrictions on eye care and treatment performed by physicians, optometrists, and opticians.   - Physician licensed in this state is unrestricted in the eye care and treatment afforded the physician's patients, including the fabrication and use of contact lenses, medicine, drugs, and surgery. An optometrist may employ any means, except drugs, medicine, or surgery, in the treatment of the human eye, including contact lenses. A dispensing optician may prepare and dispense optical devices upon the prescription of a physician or optometrist, or may duplicate lenses without a prescription. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.    Dispensing optician may not examine a patient's eyes  for the purpose of determining whether or not the patient may wear contact lenses. However, the duplication of a contact lens from an original contact lens, without examination, is not prohibited. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.   Optician may not duplicate contact lens from spectacle lens.   - Authority vested in a dispensing optician to duplicate a lens is an exception to the general statutory scheme providing for preparation and dispensing of optical devices upon a prescription. Exceptions must be strictly construed; thus, a dispensing optician may duplicate a spectacle lens from another such lens, but may not duplicate a contact lens from a spectacle lens. 1980 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 80-19.   Requirements for license without examination.   - If a person were engaged in trade of a dispensing optician at time of passage of this statute, and made application on prescribed forms, within time limit, and paid the fee, the person would be entitled to receive a license without examination under provisions of the law. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 549.   Board must return fee when rejecting grandfathered license application.   - When the State Board of Dispensing Opticians receives an application for a license under "grandfather clause" of Ga. L. 1956, p. 148 creating the board, the fee received therewith must be refunded if the application is rejected. 1954-56 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 547.   RESEARCH REFERENCES   ALR.   - Construction of "grandfather clause" of statute or ordinance regulating or licensing business or occupation, 4 A.L.R.2d 667.   Right to enjoin business competitor from unlicensed or otherwise illegal acts or practices, 90 A.L.R.2d 7.   Single or isolated transactions as falling within provisions of commercial or occupational licensing requirements, 93 A.L.R.2d 90.