Editing Paramedic (section)

==Medicolegal authority==
The [[medical law|medicolegal]] framework for paramedics is highly dependent on the overall structure of emergency medical services in the territory where they are working.

[[File:Medical evacuation after car accident Kawartha Lakes Ontario.jpg|right|thumb|Paramedics load an injured woman into an air ambulance after a head-on collision in the [[Kawartha Lakes]] region of Ontario, Canada.]]

In many localities, paramedics operate as a direct extension of a physician medical director and practice as an extension of the medical director's license. In the United States, a physician delegates authority under an individual state's Medical Practice Act. This gives a paramedic the ability to practice within limited scope of practice in law, along with state DOH guidelines and medical control oversight. The authority to practice in this manner is granted in the form of standing orders [[Guideline (medical)|(protocols)]] (off-line medical control) and direct physician consultation via phone or radio (on-line medical control). Under this paradigm, paramedics effectively assume the role of out-of-hospital field agents to regional emergency physicians, with independent clinical decision.

In places where paramedics are recognised health care professionals registered with an appropriate body, they can conduct all procedures authorised for their profession, including the administration of [[prescription medication]], and are personally answerable to a regulator. For example, in the United Kingdom, the [[Health and Care Professions Council]] regulates paramedics and can censure or strike a paramedic from the register.

In some cases paramedics may gain further qualifications to extend their status to that of a paramedic practitioner or advanced paramedic, which may allow them to administer a wider range of drugs and use a wider range of clinical skills.

In some areas, paramedics are only permitted to practice many advanced skills while assisting a physician who is physically present, except for immediately life-threatening emergencies.