Health Law

Health Law

Part I

Health Law Memorandum

The policy of breast-feeding would help in decreasing the risks of child obesity and other health issues in pediatrics of the state, as the policy would undertake that all the mothers in the premises of the hospitals of South Caledonia state must breast-fed their newborns soon after the delivery.

This policy is vital to be made and implemented as “Public health can only be attained by collective actions rather individual efforts, as by acting lonely, even though the minimum possible health levels cannot be attained” (Gostin, 2010). This is the matter of not just an individual but of a whole community. These health problems and health risks have to potential to shake massively an upcoming generation, so, it is government responsibility to take care of public basic health (Gostin, 2010), and for this purpose, there must be some serious emphasis on the policy implementations in this regard. As per a previous case, “Upon the principle of self-defense, of paramount necessity, a community has the right to protect itself against an epidemic of disease which threatens the safety of its members.” (Jacobson v. Massachusetts, United States Supreme Court, 1905).

As per the report presented by MMWR, it is evidenced that around 80 percent of women in the U.S. specify their intention to breastfeed their babies before delivery, and 75 percent of women even start breast-feeding. But the problem arises, when just in one week, half of them initiated the infant formulas to their babies which do not contain such nutrition as the breast-feeding. Finally, just a 31 percent rate remains that the women who continue the breast-feeding till the 9 months after the delivery. This is the rating on behalf of the overall United States, while the South Caledonia has the rate even half of it. Hence, child obesity is also a widespread disease in South Caledonia and breast-feeding has been proven as a significant strategy of public health that prevents child obesity (MMWR, Aug 2011).

For this purpose, Government should introduce a bill into the Senate of the State under the title as (SOCOBA) i.e. Save Our Children from Obesity through Breastfeeding Act. Under this bill, there will be a requirement for all the mothers of newborns in South Caledonia hospitals to breast-feed their infants at the same time as they are present in hospitals after delivery. Mother who would not fulfill this law and would feed their infants by means of other infant nutritional formulas despite of passing all the medical conditions to breast-feed then would be subject to pay a fine of $150 per day. This fine charge would not be applicable just on the mothers who could get a medical inadvisability by the doctors to not breast-feed their infants. Additionally, those mothers could also be given a suggestion to make compliance with law by hiring another woman to breast-feed their newborns if the milk could met all the medical and legal requirements of purity and quality and conformed with all the regulations ...