Friday, May 5, 2006

"Tom Cruise Law" Passes in California

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The California Assembly has passed bill AB2360, the "Tom Cruise law," which prohibits the sale of diagnostic ultrasound to anyone but appropriately licensed clinicians, reports the Associated Press. The American College of Radiology (ACR) wants the law to go even further:

"This bill is an important first step in protecting parents, perhaps unaware of potentially harmful effects of misuse of ultrasound technology, from placing their unborn children at risk," said James P. Borgstede, MD, FACR, chair of the American College of Radiology Board of Chancellors. "However, the legislation should include a ban on the sale of ultrasound equipment to fetal keepsake studios, as they most often lack onsite physician supervision, the tests are almost always not the result of a physician prescription, and may cause parents to mistakenly believe that they do not need appropriate medical attention."

The ACR fully supports the views of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that fetal ultrasound be performed only for medical purposes, by certified technologists, with a prescription from an appropriately licensed provider.

The ACR press release...

The FDA statement on fetal keepsake videos...

Flashback: Tom Cruise is under attack from the American College of Radiology...

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