Baby Doe, Baby Jane Doe, Baby Doe Regulations, and the 1983 Amendment to the Child Abuse Law

Two cases and two sets of regulations that engaged the public and professionals on the issues of what treatment should be provided for seriously ill/disabled newborns and if their parents should be allowed to decide whether treatment was not to be provided. To help enforce these regulations, "hot line" telephone numbers were set up around the country by the federal government to encourage anonymous reporting of suspicious abuse. These hotlines were soon discontinued, because they resulted in the frequent intrusion of federal investigators into hospitals and the interruption of the daily functioning of neonatal intensive care units. The Baby Doe regulations would undergo several revisions before finally be assumed under the Child Abuse Amendments of 1984, 42 U.S.C.A. § 5102. [Source: Selected Recent Court Decisions, 9 Am. J. L. and Med. 517, 1984.]

Principles & Concepts: informed consent, human dignity, right to life, benefit and burdens, proportionate/ disproportionate means, surrogate decision-making, best interests.

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