Sec. 18.15.200. - Screening for phenylketonuria. - Alaska Statutes

(a) A physician who attends a newborn child shall cause this child to be tested for phenylketonuria (PKU). If the mother is delivered in the absence of a physician, the nurse who first visits the child shall cause this test to be performed.

(b) The department shall adopt regulations regarding the method used and the time or times of testing as accepted medical practice indicates.

(c) The necessary laboratory tests and the test materials, reporting forms, and mailing cartons shall be provided by the department.

(d) All tests considered positive by the screening method shall be reported by the screening laboratory to the physician and to the department. The department shall provide services for the performance of a quantitative blood phenylalanine test or its equivalent for diagnostic purposes. A confirmed diagnosis of phenylketonuria shall be reported to the physician and to the department. The department shall provide services for treatment and clinical follow-up of any diagnosed case.

(e) When presumptive positive screening tests have been reported to the department, it shall provide, on request, either the true blood phenylalanine test or subsidize the performance of this test at an approved laboratory.

(f) A licensed physician or licensed nurse attending a newborn or infant who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, is punishable by a fine of not more than $500. However, a person attending a newborn or infant whose request for appropriate specimens from the newborn or infant is denied by the parent or guardian is not guilty of a misdemeanor. The fact that a child has not been subjected to the test because a request for appropriate specimens has been denied by the parents or guardian shall be reported to the department.

(g) In this section, "physician" means a doctor of medicine licensed to practice medicine in this state, or an officer in the regular medical service of the armed forces of the United States or the United States Public Health Service assigned to duty in this state.