NJ Law to Restrict Sale of Ultrasound Equipment
There is a bill in my home state of New Jersey that, if passed, will restrict the sale of ultrasound scanners.
NJ Assembly Bill No. 3477 states: A person shall not sell, offer to sell, offer for promotional purposes, lease, or otherwise distribute in this State an obstetric gynecologic ultrasonic imager, except to a licensed health care professional or a licensed health care facility. The Bill makes exceptions for re-sellers, banks that finance sales and educational or research facilities.
According to the Bill's wording, it is "... in response to the situation in which persons are acquiring and using ultrasound equipment for nonmedical purposes without a physician's prescription or the proper training."
Although the intent of this bill is to prevent the use of ultrasound technology for nonmedical purposes (i.e., entertainment scans) unfortunately, it doesn't specifically prevent people from performing entertainment scans, it only prevents the sale of equipment for that purpose. Unless I am missing something, the NJ Bill is not really necessary since (as it states) "Ultrasound equipment is designated by the federal Food and Drug Administration as a prescription medical device and should be used to monitor the growth and development of a fetus only by trained personnel." The FDA already has restrictions in place to limit the sale of ultrasound equipment to physicians and we all know how ineffective they are in preventing entertainment services from operating around the country.
A much better approach to put an end to obstetrical entertainment ultrasound services was recently passed in Connecticut (see my previous post about the CT law here) which specifically prevents the use of ultrasound for entertainment purposes.
I suppose the NJ Bill is a step in the right direction but it will be interesting to see if its any more effective than the existing FDA regulations at putting a stop to entertainment ultrasound in the Garden State.