By Thomas Hargrove
Scripps Howard News Service
Copyright 2007 The E.W. Scripps Co.
WASHINGTON — Nowhere is the confusion surrounding sudden infant death more apparent than in the 95 unique and often-contradictory statutes approved by state legislatures throughout the nation in recent years.
“The laws vary significantly in terms of scope and subject,” concluded analysts for the National Conference of State Legislatures in a report updated in June.
State lawmakers do not necessarily agree on the definition of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, for example, even though the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have agreed on a clear standard.
According to the definition set by the United Nations and the federal government, SIDS is “the sudden death of an infant under 1 year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene and review of the clinical history” of the dead child.
Full Story: Many states have decided the SIDS diagnosis may be used for children older than 1 year