OFP,CE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL STATE OF TELC
JOHN CORNYN
August 23, 1999
Bruce Levy, M.D., J.D. Opinion No. JC-0097
Executive Director
Texas State Board of Medical Examiners Re: Whether a therapeutic optometrist may
P.O. Box 2018 perform certain procedures; request for
Austin, Texas 78768.2018 reconsideration of Attorney General Opinion
DM-425 (1996) (RQ-0025)
Dear Dr. Levy:
You ask us to reconsider the conclusion reached by this office in Attorney General Opinion
DM-425 (1996). In that opinion, the Texas Department ofHealth listed eleven procedures and asked
whether the procedures could be performed by a therapeutic optometrist. As you know, the Texas
Optometry Act forbids a therapeutic optometrist to perform surgery. See Act of May 20,1999,76th
Leg., R.S., H.B. 1051, 5 1 (to be codified at TEX. REV. Crv. STAT.ANN. art. 4552-1.02(7)). Since
the term “surgery” was not defined by the Optometry Act at the time the opinion was issued, the
opinion relied on the ordinary definition of surgery to conclude that a therapeutic optometrist could
perform a listed procedure if the procedure was not a “cutting operation.” The opinion concluded
further that whether any of the procedures involved a cutting operation was a question of fact.
This year the Seventy-sixth Legislature amended the Texas Optometry Act to include a
definition of “surgery:”
“Surgery”means any procedure using instruments, including,
lasers, scalpels, or needles, in which human tissue is cut, burned,
vaporized, or otherwise altered by any mechanical means, laser, or
ionizing radiation. The term includes procedures using instruments
that require closure by suturing, clamping, or another device. The
term does not include a noninvasive procedure to remove a superficial
foreign body in the conjunctiva, eyelid, or cornea1 epithelium that has
not perforated the Bowman’s membrane.
Act of May 20, 1999,76th Leg., R.S., H.B. 105 1, 9 1 (to be codified at TEX. REV. CIV. STAT.ANN.
art. 4552.1.02(11)).
When a term is clearly defined by an applicable statute, we need not look to the ordinary
definition of the term or any other definition. Because the Optometry Act now defines “surgery,”
Bruce Levy, M.D., J.D. - Page 2 (X-0097)
the statutory definition controls for purposes of determining what procedures constitute “surgery.”
Attorney General Opinion DM-425 is therefore superseded by statute to the extent it defines
“surgery” according to the term’s ordinary meaning. Whether any of the eleven procedures listed
in the original opinion request is “surgery” under the statutory definition remains a question of fact.
SUMMARY
The Texas Optometry Act, Texas Revised Civil Statutes
article 4552-1.02, forbids a therapeutic optometrist to perform
surgery. As amended by the Seventy-sixth Legislature, the Act
expressly defines “surgery.” Attorney General Opinion DM-425
(1996) defined “surgery” under the Act according to the term’s
ordinary meaning. To the extent it defined “surgery” according to the
term’s ordinary meaning, Attorney General Opinion DM-425 is
superseded by statute.
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COkNYN
Attdmey General of Texas
ANDY TAYLOR
First Assistant Attorney General
CLARK RENT ERVIN
Deputy Attorney General - General Counsel
ELIZABETH ROBINSON
Chair, Opinion Committee
Barbara Griffin
Assistant Attorney General - Opinion Committee