Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect around the world. Newborn babies in states such as Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Wisconsin, Washington and other places around the world do not require screening for congenital heart defects. The pulse-oximetry test is so simple and can impact one’s life immensely. Dozens of babies die each year because of undiagnosed heart problems not found within their first week of life.
Previously, babies around the world have not had the requirement of being tested for the congenital heart disease resulting in either traumatic death within the first week or children growing up with the disease, leading to problems later in life. Clearly, the result of not performing the pulse-oximetry test is deadly for newborn baby and emotionally in their families. Babies will suffocate, go into a coma, and in many cases, die from inflammation in the veins making the baby harder to work on. Many survivors go through huge amounts of surgery and testing to even have the slightest chance of living. Those innocent babies that leave the hospitals without screening go through major pain and serious problems that come through within the first year of their life, if not the first few days.
The Department of Pediatrics, Schneider Children’s Hospital says, “This screening test is simple, noninvasive, and inexpensive and can be administered in conjunction with state-mandated screening… The sensitivity, specificity, and predictive value in this population are satisfactory, indicating that screening should be applied to larger populations, particularly where lower rates of fetal detection result in increased CCVM prevalence in asymptomatic newborns.” This quote expresses the idea that screening for congenital heart disease should be done to a larger population of newborn babies and even young children because there is no reason not to! It is a simple test that does not require any injections into the body, and surprisingly inexpensive.
Why wouldn’t a human being want to save the lives of dozens to carry out the next generation? Why should lives be lost because a simple test isn’t performed? The irresponsible decision made by states and cities over the world is that the pulse-oximetry is not required. This could be because they are not aware of the proper tools and procedures to work on these babies. Well, they should learn. Every single baby should be thoroughly tested to either make sure they are fine or, in most cases, see how bad the heart disease is and how to proceed with the appropriate surgery needed to fix the problem(s). Newborn screening for congenital heart disease is recommended by the US Health and Human Service’s Secretary Advisory Committee on Heritable Disorders in Newborns and Children.
Overall, early detection of congenital heart disease through a thorough pulse-oximetry test reduces horror and death in children. Every hospital should take a few minutes per baby to potentially save a life. It’s always better to be safe than sorry!