Senate bill could help improve pediatric medical devices
During the last days of the 109th Congress, Connecticut’s Senator Christopher Dodd introduced the “Pediatric Medical Device Safety and Improvement Act of 2006″ which was “a bill to improve the process for the development of needed pediatric medical devices.” According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), which gave its endorsement, this bill “is the key to developing medical devices manufactured with children’s needs in mind.” Often medical equipment designed with adults in mind is not adequate in the treatment of children.
In his statements to introduce the bill, Senator Dodd pointed out, “while children and adults suffer from many of the same diseases and conditions, their device needs can vary considerably due to differences in size, rates of growth, critical development periods, anatomy, physiological differences such as breathing and heart rate, and physical activity levels.” Senator Dodd went on to gave examples, saying “for young children needing to be on a ventilator to assist their breathing, the lack of non-invasive ventilators with masks that suitably fit babies has led to respiratory treatments that are inadequate or invasive treatment options such as placing a tube in the baby’s throat.” This is one situation that many families fighting spinal muscular atrophy can verify.
Co-sponsored by Ohio’s Senator Mike DeWine and New York’s Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the bill was referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and did not pass before the close of the Congressional session. This means that the bill will need to be reintroduced in the 110th Congress which began in January.
To read the full text of the bill, click here.
