Texas Bill For Special Doctor Teams to Diagnose Health Conditions

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT  relating to requiring the Department of Family and Protective Services to create a physician multidisciplinary team to assist in certain investigations of child abuse and neglect.        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:        SECTION 1.  Subchapter D, Chapter 261, Family Code, is amended by adding Section 261.3017 to read as follows:        Sec. 261.3017.  PHYSICIAN MULTIDISCIPLINARY TEAM; CONSULTATION. (a)  The department shall create a physician multidisciplinary team to consult with the department during abuse and neglect investigations.        (b)  The multidisciplinary team must include radiologists, geneticists, and endocrinologists who have experience in identifying the following health conditions:              (1)  rickets;              (2)  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome;              (3)  osteogenesis imperfecta;               (4)  vitamin D deficiency; and              (5)  other similar metabolic bone diseases or connective tissue disorders.        (c)  The department shall provide training to each physician on the multidisciplinary team.  The training must provide physicians with information and support regarding:              (1)  the identification of the physical symptoms of abuse and neglect; and              (2)  the alternative causes of physical symptoms that normally indicate child abuse or neglect when no other indicators of abuse and neglect are present.        (d)  The department shall consult with the multidisciplinary team created under this section in an investigation of alleged child abuse and neglect in which physical symptoms are present but there are no other indicators of abuse and neglect.         (e)  In an investigation described by Subsection (d), the department may not proceed in a case against a parent accused of child abuse or neglect until the department and multidisciplinary team have considered and ruled out other possible medical explanations for the child's physical symptoms.        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 2017.