2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 46 — Public welfare and assistance
RS 46:2263 — Definitions

§2263. Definitions

Except where the context clearly indicates otherwise, in this Chapter:

(1) "Advisory council" means the advisory council created pursuant to R.S. 46:2265.

(2) "Department" means the Department of Health and Hospitals.

(3) "Hearing impaired infant" means an infant who has a disorder of the auditory system of any type or degree, causing a hearing impairment sufficient to interfere with the development of language and speech skills. The term "hearing impaired infant" includes both deaf and hard-of-hearing infants.

(4) "Infants at risk" means those infants who are at risk for hearing impairment because they have one or more risk factors.

(5) "Office" means the office of public health within the department.

(6) "Program" means the program that the office of public health establishes to provide for the early identification and follow-up of infants at risk, of hearing impaired infants, and of infants who have a risk factor for developing a progressive hearing impairment.

(7) "Risk factors" means those criteria or factors, any one of which identifies an infant as being at risk for hearing impairment.

(a) The risk factors that identify those neonates, infants from birth through the first twenty-eight days, who are at risk for sensorineural hearing impairment include the following:

(i) Family history of congenital or delayed onset childhood sensorineural impairment.

(ii) Congenital infection known or suspected to be associated with sensorineural hearing impairment such as toxoplasmosis, syphilis, rubella, cytomegalovirus, and herpes.

(iii) Craniofacial anomalies including morphologic abnormalities of the pinna and ear canal, absent philtrum, low hairline, et cetera.

(iv) Birth weight less than one thousand five hundred grams or less than three and three tenths pounds.

(v) Hyperbilirubinemia at a level exceeding indication for exchange transfusion.

(vi) Ototoxic medications, including but not limited to the aminoglycosides used for more than five days, such as gentamicin, tobramycin, kanamycin, streptomycin, and loop diuretics used in combination with aminoglycosides.

(vii) Bacterial meningitis.

(viii) Severe depression at birth, which may include infants with Apgar scores of zero to three at five minutes or those who fail to initiate spontaneous respiration by ten minutes or those with hypotonia persisting to two hours of age.

(ix) Prolonged mechanical ventilation for a duration equal to or greater than ten days, such as persistent pulmonary hypertension.

(x) Stigmata or other findings associated with a syndrome known to include sensorineural hearing loss, such as Waardenburg or Usher's Syndrome.

(xi) Other risk factors added or deleted by the office of public health upon recommendation of the advisory council for early identification of hearing impaired children.

(b) The factors that identify those infants aged twenty-nine days to two years who are at risk for sensorineural hearing impairment include the following:

(i) Parent or caregiver concerns regarding hearing, speech, language and/or developmental delay.

(ii) Bacterial meningitis.

(iii) Neonatal risk factors that may be associated with progressive sensorineural hearing loss, such as cytomegalovirus, prolonged mechanical ventilation, and inherited disorders.

(iv) Head trauma, especially with either longitudinal or transverse fracture of the temporal bone.

(v) Stigmata or other findings associated with syndromes known to include sensorineural hearing loss, such as Waardenburg or Usher's Syndrome.

(vi) Ototoxic medications, including but not limited to the aminoglycosides used for more than five days, such as gentamicin, tobramycin, kanamycin, streptomycin, and loop diuretics used in combination with aminoglycosides.

(vii) Neurodegenerative disorders such as neurofibromatosis, myoclonic epilepsy, Werdnig-Hoffman disease, Tay-Sach's disease, infantile Gaucher's disease, Nieman-Pick disease, any metachromatic leukodystrophy, or any infantile demyelinating neuropathy.

(viii) Childhood infectious diseases known to be associated with sensorineural hearing loss, such as mumps or measles.

(ix) Other risk factors added or deleted by the office of public health upon recommendation of the advisory council for early identification of hearing impaired children.

(8) "Screening for hearing impairment" means employing a device for identifying whether an infant has a disorder of the auditory system, but may not necessarily provide a comprehensive determination of hearing thresholds in the speech range. Procedures may include auditory brainstem response (ABR) screening or evoked otoacoustic emissions (EOAE) screening, or other devices approved by the office upon recommendation of the advisory council.

Acts 1992, No. 417, §1; Acts 1999, No. 653, §1.