                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

SURGERY DEFINED; WHO MAY PERFORM SURGERY (§ 54.1-2400.01:1)

A. For the purposes of this subtitle, except as used in Chapter 38 (&#xA7;
54.1-3800 et seq.) related to veterinary medicine, &#8220;surgery&#8221; means
the structural alteration of the human body by the incision or cutting into of
tissue for the purpose of diagnostic or therapeutic treatment of conditions or
disease processes by any instrument causing localized alteration or
transposition of live human tissue, but does not include the following:
procedures for the removal of superficial foreign bodies from the human body,
punctures, injections, dry needling, acupuncture, or removal of dead tissue. For
the purposes of this section, incision shall not mean the scraping or brushing
of live tissue.

B. No person shall perform surgery unless he is (i) licensed by the Board of
Medicine as a doctor of medicine, osteopathy, or podiatry; (ii) licensed by the
Board of Dentistry as a doctor of dentistry; (iii) jointly licensed by the
Boards of Medicine and Nursing as an advanced practice registered nurse; (iv) a
physician assistant acting under the supervision of a doctor of medicine,
osteopathy, or podiatry; (v) a licensed midwife in the performance of
episiotomies during childbirth; (vi) licensed by the Board of Optometry as an
optometrist and certified to perform laser surgery pursuant to &#xA7; 54.1-3225;
or (vii) acting pursuant to the orders and under the appropriate supervision of
a licensed doctor of medicine, osteopathy, podiatry, or dentistry.

C. Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict, limit, change, or
expand the scope of practice in effect on January 1, 2012, of any profession
licensed by any of the health regulatory boards within the Department of Health
Professions.

HISTORY: 2012, cc. 15, 124; 2022, cc. 16, 17; 2023, c. 183.