Judge dismisses lawsuit over newborn blood draws in Michigan

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of Michigan parents who alleged that the state didn’t obtain proper consent to draw or store their newborns’ blood for medical research.

An attorney for the parents tells WOOD-TV an appeal is planned.

The lawsuit argued that Michigan’s decades-old practice of drawing infant blood was unconstitutional. It also alleged there weren’t protections in place to stop police or others from accessing information that could be derived from stored samples.

The lawsuit wasn’t seeking to stop the testing, but aimed to better inform parents and let them decide.

Michigan has defended the practice. The state Department of Health and Human Services has said that the blood of more than five million people is being stored.

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Information from: WOOD-TV, http://www.woodtv.com