AB 65

Under current law, the attending physician or nurse-midwife must ensure that

every infant born undergoes testing for certain congenital and metabolic disorders

prior to the infant's discharge from the hospital or maternity home. For infants born

elsewhere, the attending physician, nurse-midwife, or other birth attendant must

ensure that the infant is tested within a week of birth. As authorized by current law,

the Department of Health Services (DHS) specifies by rule the congenital and

metabolic disorders for which newborn infants are to be screened. Current law

allows an exception to the testing requirement if the parents or legal guardian object

on the basis of a conflict with religious tenets and practices or with their personal

convictions.

This bill requires that, in addition to the other congenital and metabolic

disorders for which testing is currently required under DHS rules, the attending

physician, nurse-midwife, or in certain circumstances, other birth attendant, must

ensure that every infant born undergoes testing for certain lysosomal storage

disorders, specifically, globoid cell leukodystrophy, also known as Krabbe disease;

Fabry disease, Pompe disease; Niemann-Pick disease; Gaucher disease, and Hurler

syndrome, also known as mucopolysaccharidosis type I (MPS I). For infants born in

a hospital or maternity home, the attending physician or nurse-midwife must

ensure this testing is completed before the infant is discharged from the hospital or

within one week of birth, if the infant has not yet been discharged. For births

occurring outside a hospital or maternity home setting, the attending physician,

nurse-midwife, or other birth attendant must ensure testing is done within one week

of birth. The parental objection exemption under current law also applies to the

testing required under this bill.