85R12302 MK-D
By: Burkett H.B. No. 2848
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.