ST. PAUL
The Minnesota Department of Health is beginning to destroy blood spot collection cards to comply with a ruling last year from the Minnesota Supreme Court.
In November, the court sided with parents who raised privacy concerns about the health department's practice of storing blood samples from newborns indefinitely.
Blood samples are collected from every baby born in Minnesota within 24-48 hours after birth, with drops of blood placed on specimen cards. The cards are sent to the health department for analysis of 53 rare but treatable disorders.
The Supreme Court ruled the department's newborn screening program could continue, but said informed consent from parents would be needed if the state wanted to collect and use the samples for research or quality assurance purposes.
ADVERTISEMENT
"For the first time in almost 20 years, we're going to begin destroying a valuable public health resource, the residual blood spots from about 200 babies born in Minnesota each day," said state Health Commissioner Dr. Edward Ehlinger in a news release. "We believe it is necessary to take this step in order to comply with the Supreme Court's decision."
The health department will destroy blood sample cards collected since Nov. 16, which is the date of the Supreme Court ruling. Older cards will not be destroyed because they currently are the subject of litigation, said Doug Schultz, a spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Health.
A few days after the Supreme Court ruling, attorneys filed a class action lawsuit against the state and health department in November, said Scott Kelly, a lawyer representing parents. The lawsuit is an attempt, Kelly said, to force the state to comply with the law and obtain written informed consent whenever it wants to use residual blood samples from newborn screening for other purposes.
"We're (also) seeking destruction of all residual blood samples and the test results," Kelly said. "We are not attacking the newborn screening program. We think the newborn screening program -- if operated within the law -- is an excellent and wonderful program."
Health department officials said a Hennepin County judge ruled last month that sample cards could be destroyed 71 days after they were collected, since that's the amount of time needed to perform screening tests. Cards are being destroyed through "a process of heating and shredding," Schultz said.
The health department currently is working on legislative language that it hopes will be introduced this session to allow the use of residual blood samples for quality assurance and research purposes, said Aggie Leitheiser, assistant commissioner of the health department.
Distributed by MCT Information Services
