| Medical neglect is
failure to provide adequate medical care, including but not limited to, the withholding of
medically indicated treatment from a disabled infant with a life threatening condition. Withholding of medically indicated treatment is failure to
respond to an infant's life threatening condition by providing treatment which, in the
treating physician's reasonable medical judgment, would be most likely to be effective in
ameliorating or correcting all such conditions.
Exception: The term does not include failure
to provide treatment when
· the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose
· the treatment would merely prolong dying, not be effective in ameliorating or
correcting all of the infant's life-threatening conditions, or otherwise be futile in
terms of the infant's survival
· the provision of such treatment would be virtually futile in terms of the survival
of the infant and the treatment would be inhumane.
Note: Appropriate nutrition, hydration and medication must always be
provided.
Reasonable medical judgment means a medical
judgment that would be made by a reasonably prudent physician, knowledgeable about the
case and the treatment possibilities with respect to the medical conditions involved.
An infant is a child less than one year of age.
A child older than one year of age who has been continuously hospitalized since birth,
who was born extremely prematurely, or who has a long-term disability may also be
evaluated by this policy.
An Infant Care Review Committee (ICRC) is a
hospital committee whose function is to educate hospital personnel and families of
disabled infants, recommend institutional policies and guidelines concerning the
withholding of treatment, and review cases involving such infants.
The Interdepartmental Investigative Team (IIT) is a
joint DCF and DPH committee whose function is to investigate allegations of medical
neglect involving disabled infants with life threatening conditions. |
