CHAPTER 37 - CARE OF THE NEWLY BORN - South Carolina Statutes

Title 44 - Health

CHAPTER 37.

CARE OF THE NEWLY BORN

SECTION 44-37-10. Report of infants with diseased eyes.

Should one or both eyes of an infant become reddened or inflamed at any time after birth, the midwife, nurse or person having charge of such infant shall report such condition at once to the county health department. Any person who fails to comply with the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined not more than twenty-five dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days.

SECTION 44-37-20. Instillation of prophylactic to prevent blindness within one hour after birth.

Every doctor, midwife, nurse or other person attending the delivery at birth of a child in this State shall instill, or have instilled, into the eyes of the baby, within one hour after birth, some effective prophylactic approved by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, for prevention of blindness from ophthalmia neonatorum. A record of such administration or instillation shall be reported on the birth certificate, showing the time with respect to the birth and the kind of prophylactic administered.

SECTION 44-37-30. Neonatal testing of children; storage and availability of blood samples for future tests; confidentiality; religious exemption; violation and penalties.

(A) A child born in this State, except a child born of a parent who objects on religious grounds and indicates this objection before testing on a form promulgated in regulation by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, shall have neonatal testing to detect inborn metabolic errors and hemoglobinopathies.

(B) Information obtained as a result of the tests conducted pursuant to this section is confidential and may be released only to a parent or legal guardian of the child, the child's physician, and the child when eighteen years of age or older when requested on a form promulgated in regulation by the department.

(C) A blood sample obtained pursuant to this section is confidential and may be released only as the parent or legal guardian of the child from whom a blood sample was obtained, or the child when eighteen years of age or older, directs the department at the time of testing or at any time after that on a form promulgated in regulation by the department.

(D)(1) Unless otherwise directed pursuant to this subsection, a blood sample obtained pursuant to this section must be stored by the department at minus 20