Disconnecting the Baby Doe Hotline

Abstract

On March 18, 1983, a U.S. District Court judge ruled invalid, on procedural grounds, a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regulation that would have denied financial assistance to hospitals for withholding treatment from handicapped infants and encouraged hospital workers to use a special "hotline" to report such instances of denial of care. Annas analyzes the legal implications of the judge's decision. He also contends that the HHS "hotline" strategy is an ineffective approach to improving neonatal care decision making or to protecting the handicapped. (KIE abstract)