Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 98 Part 2.djvu/592

 98 STAT. 1752

PUBLIC LAW 98-457—OCT. 9, 1984 PART B—SERVICES AND TREATMENT FOR DISABLED INFANTS NEW DEFINITION

42 USC 5102.

SEC. 121. Section 3 of the Act is further amended— (1) by striking out "this Act the term 'child abuse and neglect' " and inserting in lieu thereof the following: "This Act— "(1) the term 'child abuse and neglect' "; (2) by striking out the period at the end thereof and inserting in lieu thereof a semicolon and the word "and"; and (3) by adding after clause (2) (as added by section 102(3) of this Act) the following new clause: "(3) the term 'withholding of medically indicated treatment' means the failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions by providing treatment (including appropriate nutrition, hydration, and medication) which, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment, will be most likely to be effective in ameliorating or correcting all such conditions, except that the term does not include the failure to provide treatment (other than appropriate nutrition, hydration, or medication) to an infant when, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment, (A) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose; (B) the provision of such treatment would (i) merely prolong dying, (ii) not be effective in ameliorating or correcting all of the infant's life-threatening conditions, or (iii) otherwise be futile in terms of the survival of the infant; or (C) the provision of such treatment would be virtually futile in terms of the survivial of the infant and the treatment itself under such circumstances would be inhumane.". NEW BASIC STATE GRANT REQUIREMENT

Ante, p. 1749.

SEC. 122. Section 4(b)(2) of the Act (42 U.S.C. 5103(b)(2)) is amended— (1) by striking out "and" at the end of clause (I); (2) by striking out the period at the end of clause (J) and inserting in lieu thereof a semicolon and the word "and"; and (3) by inserting after clause (J) the following new clause: "(K) within one year after the date of the enactment of the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, have in place for the purpose of responding to the reporting of medical neglect (including instances of withholding of medically indicated treatment from disabled infants with life-threatening conditions), procedures or programs, or both (within the State child protective services system), to provide for (i) coordination and consultation with individuals designated by and within appropriate health-care facilities, (ii) prompt notification by individuals designated by and within appropriate health-care facilities of cases of suspected medical neglect (including instances of withholding of medically indicated treatment from disabled infants with life-threatening conditions), and (iii) authority, under State law, for the State child protective service system to pursue any legal remedies, including the authority to initiate legal proceedings in a court of competent jurisdiction, as may be necessary to

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