URGENT! For ALL ages....DO NOT sign this form!

July 31, 2008

I was going to have blood work drawn on my 17 mo. old baby today and

I was asked to sign an " Informed Consent " form. Well, a section

caught my eye – I have never seen this before. Apparently, it is

something new.

The section was titled " MEDICAL/SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: XYZ Hospital

participates in clinical trials, " data registries " , and other quality

improvement activities. Patient identifiers are removed from the

information before it is used outside the organization. Informed

Consents and/or authorizations will be signed stating voluntary

participation for any instances that personal identifiers cannot be

removed " .

WHAT?? I thought that this new bill that Bush signed for a newborn's

blood to be used in data registries was just that?? Now, it applies

to ALL ages?? So, they can do Lord knows what with any patient's

blood and even sell it to other agencies! Cloning, experiments, etc.

Thankfully, the Lab Tech very quietly told me (so she wouldn't get

into trouble) was that she took that form to an attorney already and

he told her not to sign it. Another Lab Tech entered the room and

tried to reassure me that I could just cross that section out and

sign it. I told them that I was going to check with an attorney

before doing anything of the sort. Regardless of whether I did that

or not, I would never know what happened to my son's blood/DNA and

I'm not willing to take that chance. The scary part was that I was

only the second person to ever question it and it has been around for

probably several weeks, if not months now. The other parent ended up

walking out like I did without the work done. I just wanted to warn

everyone that it is not just newborns affected. Apparently, this new

law applies to all ages.

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