Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4826.4 · Article 2. Practice Provisions
Bus. & Prof. Code, § 4826.4
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) A California-licensed veterinarian at premises registered in accordance with Section 4853 that is located within a 25-mile radius of any condition of emergency specified in Section 8558 of the Government Code may, in good faith, do both of the following in addition to any other acts authorized by law:
(1) Render necessary and prompt care and treatment to an animal patient without establishing a veterinarian-client-patient relationship if conditions are such that one cannot be established in a timely manner.
(2) Dispense or prescribe a dangerous drug or device, as defined in Section 4022, in reasonable quantities where failure to provide services or medications, including controlled substances, may result in loss of life or intense suffering of the animal patient. Prior to refilling a prescription pursuant to this paragraph, the veterinarian shall make a reasonable effort to contact the originally prescribing veterinarian.
(b) A veterinarian acting under this section shall make an appropriate record that includes the basis for proceeding under this section.
(c) A veterinarian who performs services pursuant to this section shall have immunity from liability pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 8659 of the Government Code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 571, Sec. 25. (SB 1480) Effective January 1, 2019.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=BPC§ionNum=4826.4.
- Text hash
- sha256 c392fb7695d84f92f8f7456f946f521b55d78a09dbeed7a35fe73a4bfa84fd21
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
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