New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has signed a new law designed to protect medically fragile students, such as those with cerebral palsy or seizure disorders, and to allow parents to have a role in choosing care providers for their child during the school day.
The measure requires that a provider of clinical nursing services to a medically-fragile student in a school setting meet the certification standards established by the Department of Human Services for Medicaid and New Jersey FamilyCare program for clinical nurses. The law allows the parent or guardian to choose the provider of school-based clinical nursing services for their child, as long as it does not increase costs for the school district. Previously, parents had no choice in hiring nursing care providers for their child at school.
According to the bill’s sponsors, Senators Jim Beach and Joseph F. Vitale, the law helps ensure greater consistency of care and provide parents with a sense of ease that their child is not at serious risk at school.
The law evolved from a case in Collingswood, in which the parents of a medically fragile nine-year-old student with disabilities experienced problems with his care at school.
