Sec. 241.0263.  RECOMMENDATIONS RELATING TO MISSING INFANTS.  (a)  The department shall recommend hospital security procedures to:
(1)  reduce the likelihood of infant patient abduction;  and
(2)  aid in the identification of missing infants.
(b)  In making recommendations, the department shall consider hospital size and location and the number of births at a hospital.
(c)  The procedures recommended by the department under Subsection (a)(1) may include:
(1)  controlling access to newborn nurseries;
(2)  expanding observation of newborn nurseries through the use of video cameras;  and
(3)  requiring identification for hospital staff and visitors as a condition of entrance to newborn nurseries.
(d)  The procedures recommended by the department under Subsection (a)(2) may include:
(1)  footprinting, photographing, or writing descriptions of infant patients at birth;  and
(2)  obtaining umbilical cord blood samples for infant patients born at the hospital and storing the samples for genetic testing purposes.
(e)  Each hospital licensed under this chapter shall consider implementing the procedures recommended under this section.
Added by Acts 1997, 75th Leg., ch. 314, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1997.