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 A similar bill is pending in the Senate. It is one of more than a
dozen new measures that are aimed at addressing a U.S. epidemic of
addiction to pain pills and cheap heroin.
The legislation came in response to a Reuters investigation last
year, titled "Helpless and Hooked," which revealed that at least 110
babies had died since 2010 after being born dependent or exposed to
opioids and sent home with parents ill-prepared to care for them.
"It's hard to imagine that stories like these could be any more
tragic," Rep. Lou Barletta, a Pennsylvania Republican who is the
prime sponsor of the bill, said on the House floor. "Unfortunately,
they are. Because they should have and in many cases could have been
prevented."
Only nine of the 50 U.S. states followed a federal law requiring
them to track and help those newborns, Reuters reported. The news
agency found that more than 130,000 newborns were diagnosed with
drug withdrawal over the last decade, but most of them weren't
reported to state child-protection authorities.
In April, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services asked all
states to report by June 30 whether and how they are following the
existing law, known as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act.
States receive federal funding after giving assurance they are
complying.
Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the leading Democratic
co-sponsor, emphasized that the new legislation would require help
for not only the newborn but also for the mother and family. That
provision is aimed at overcoming resistance to reporting cases of
newborn addiction among doctors and other health-care workers, who
sometimes fear that mothers may be punished if the cases come to
official attention.
"This important step with this bill is to ensure that the whole
family is healthy and successful and supported," Clark said. The
measure, formally known the Improving Safe Care for the Prevention
of Infant Abuse and Neglect Act, passed 421-0.
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Children's advocates are seeking more federal funding to go with the
commitment. “We would view this as a good first step, but they need
to make it real and put some money in it,” said John Sciamanna, vice
president of public policy for the Child Welfare League of America.
Among the other opioid-related bills adopted by the House on
Wednesday was one designed to help states emulate a pilot program
for drug-affected newborns in Huntington, West Virginia. Rep. Evan
Jenkins, a Republican who helped create the Huntington facility,
known as Lily's Place, before he became a congressman, said his bill
would help improve access to care for poor babies and women on
Medicare.
The Reuters series can be read here: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/baby-opioids/
(Edited by Michael Williams)
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