Baby Jane Doe regulations

Baby Jane Doe regulations,

rules established in 1984 by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department requiring state governments to investigate complaints about parental decisions involving the treatment of handicapped infants. The rules also allowed the federal government to have access to children's medical records and required hospitals to post notices urging physicians and nurses to report any suspected cases of denial of proper medical care to infants. The controversial regulations have been found illegal by a federal court. The popular name for the federal rules was taken from the name "Jane Doe" given to an infant born in New York with an open spinal column and other defects who became the object of a campaign to force lifesaving surgery for the child over parental objections. Also called Baby Doe rules.