Ohio Senate Bill Number 4

Ohio Senate Bill Number 4

The Bill which is going to be analyzed in this paper is the inaction of section 3701.5010 of the Revised Code to require a critical congenital heart defects screening for each newborn born in a hospital or freestanding birthing center.

First Section of the Bill

Section 3701.5010 of the Revised Code is enacted to read as follows:

"Critical congenital heart defects screening" it is associated with the identification of critical heart defect in a newborn, through the use of a physiologic test.

"Freestanding birthing center" has the same meaning as in section 3702.141 of the Revised Code.

"Hospital," "maternity unit," "newborn," and "physician" have the same meanings as in section 3701.503 of the Revised Code.

"Pulse oximetry" means a noninvasive test which is used for finding out an estimated percentage of hemoglobin in blood that is saturated with oxygen.

(B)

Except as provided in division (C) of this section, every hospital and freestanding birthing center have to conduct a critical congenital heart defects screening of each and every new born inside the center. The test can only be ignored under the circumstances where a newborn is being transferred to another hospital. Under such circumstances the screening will be performed before discharging the new born. If the newborn is transferred to another hospital, that hospital shall conduct the screening when determined to be medically appropriate. It is the responsibility of the hospital to notify to the parents of the new born and attending physician of the screening results.

(C)

No hospital or health care center is allowed conduct a critical congenital heart defects screening in case there is an objection by the parents of the new born due to the conflicts between parent's religious tenets and practices.

(D)

It is essential for the director of health to adopt the rules in accordance with the ...