Louisiana Revised Statutes Tit. 40, § 1083.2. Legislative intent

(1) Critical congenital heart disease can cause severe and life-threatening symptoms that require intervention within the first days of life. Early detection of CCHD and timely intervention can decrease morbidity and mortality and lead to better outcomes for affected children.

(2) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CHDs occur in approximately one in one hundred ten births in the United States. About twenty-five percent of CHDs are considered CCHDs.

(3) Current methods for detecting CCHDs generally include prenatal ultrasound screening and repeated clinical examinations. Defects are also often not detected during routine clinical exams performed prior to a newborn baby's discharge from a birthing facility.

(4) When a screening for CCHD, such as pulse oximetry screening, is performed on a newborn in a birthing facility, it is effective in detecting life-threatening CHDs, which otherwise go undetected by current screening methods. The use of pulse oximetry in newborn nurseries is standard in most hospitals.

(5) Newborns with abnormal pulse oximetry results require immediate testing to confirm a defect and allow intervention. Many newborns could be saved by earlier detection and treatment of CCHD if birthing facilities in the state of Louisiana were required to perform this simple, noninvasive newborn screening in conjunction with current CCHD screening methods.