No. CS/CS/HB 47
Filed under Healthcare.
Specific Medical Diagnoses in Child Protective Investigations ; Providing an exception to the requirement that the Department of Children and Families immediately forward certain allegations to a law enforcement agency; requiring such allegations to be immediately forwarded to a law enforcement agency upon completion of the department's investigation; requiring a child protective investigator to inform the subject of an investigation of a certain duty; requiring Child Protection Teams to consult with a licensed physician or advanced practice registered nurse with certain experience when evaluating certain reports; requiring the physician or advanced practice registered nurse who performed certain medical examinations to submit a written report to the department and certain persons within a specified timeframe, etc.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDWhen a parent claims a child's injuries stem from a condition like brittle-bone disease, DCF may hold off notifying police until its own investigation is done, instead of forwarding the allegation immediately.
Child Protection Teams must bring in a physician or nurse experienced with rickets, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, or vitamin D deficiency before evaluating a child reported to have one of those conditions.
Parents can pay for a second exam and a specialist's differential diagnosis; if that exam's findings clash with the department's own, a case-staffing meeting must be held to work out which conclusion to follow.
Investigators must now request the child's medical records for any claimed preexisting diagnosis, and record-holders have 14 days to hand them over once the department asks.
AIInstead of immediately forwarding allegations of criminal conduct to police, DCF may delay that referral if the parent claims a listed preexisting medical diagnosis for the child or asks for an added exam.
AIWhen a Child Protection Team evaluates a child reported to have rickets, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, osteogenesis imperfecta, or vitamin D deficiency, it must consult a physician or advanced practice registered nurse experienced in treating that condition.
AIA parent or legal custodian may request, within 10 days of a non-sexual-abuse medical exam, that the child be examined again by a Child Protection Team or by a physician or nurse of their own choosing, at their own expense.
AIIf the original exam and the parent-requested second exam reach different conclusions, DCF must immediately convene a case-staffing meeting with the investigator, the investigator's supervisor, legal staff, and a Child Protection Team representative to sort out the disagreement.
AIThe physician or nurse who performs a parent-requested second exam must send the department and the parent a written report of findings and conclusions within 10 days of the exam.
AIWhen a parent reports that a child has one of the listed preexisting diagnoses, the child protective investigator must request the relevant medical records from the health care professional who made or treated that diagnosis.
AIRecords the department requests for these child protective investigations must now be furnished within 14 days of the request, giving record holders a firm deadline that did not previously exist.
AIWhen starting an investigation, the child protective investigator must inform the parent or legal custodian of a duty to report any preexisting diagnosis for the child within 10 days, along with the treating provider's contact information.