§ 40:1083.2 — Legislative intent

Louisiana § 40:1083.2

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 40: Public Health and Safety

Text

§1083.2. Legislative intent
The legislature finds that:
(1) Critical congenital heart disease can cause severe and life-threatening symptoms
that require intervention within the first days of life. Early detection of CCHD and timely
intervention can decrease morbidity and mortality and lead to better outcomes for affected
children.
(2) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CHDs
occur in approximately one in one hundred ten births in the United States. About twenty-five
percent of CHDs are considered CCHDs.
(3) Current methods for detecting CCHDs generally include prenatal ultrasound
screening and repeated clinical examinations. Defects are also often not detected during
routine clinical exams performed prior to a newborn baby's discharge from a birthing facility.
(4) When a screening for CCHD, such as pulse oximetry screening, is performed on
a newborn in a birthing facility, it is effective in detecting life-threatening CHDs, which
otherwise go undetected by current screening methods. The use of pulse oximetry in
newborn nurseries is standard in most hospitals.
(5) Newborns with abnormal pulse oximetry results require immediate testing to
confirm a defect and allow intervention. Many newborns could be saved by earlier detection
and treatment of CCHD if birthing facilities in the state of Louisiana were required to
perform this simple, noninvasive newborn screening in conjunction with current CCHD
screening methods.

Legislative History

Acts 2013, No. 407, §1; Redesignated from R.S. 40:1300.372 by HCR 84 of 2015 R.S.