The Senate Healthcare Standing Committee considered a bill that would require Alabama hospital emergency rooms to be staffed by a physician at all times and drew strong support from emergency medicine doctors and sharp concern from some lawmakers. SB80, sponsored by Sen. Larry Stutts, R-Tuscumbia, would mandate that a licensed physician be physically present and primarily responsible for patient care in hospital emergency departments. “This bill simply is only two pages long and just requires that hospital emergency rooms are staffed by a physician. Drawing on his own experience working in rural emergency rooms, Stutts described situations where immediate physician care made the difference between life and death. This is especially true in rural hospitals, where there are no surgeons, no OB-GYNs, no other specialists to provide backup,” said Vanlandingham.