U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) wants to strengthen efforts to understand Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood and improve prevention efforts.
He recently reintroduced bipartisan legislation — The Scarlett’s Sunshine on Sudden Unexpected Death Act — which would provide grants to help states, municipalities and nonprofits improve data collection and death scene investigations related to unexpected infant and child deaths, promote safe sleep practices, and ensure death reviews for every infant and child fatality.
According to Isakson’s office, there are no nationwide standards for investigating and collecting data following an infant or child death — making it nearly impossible to determine the causes of these deaths and what strategies our country can implement to prevent these tragedies.
“This legislation will help us learn more about sudden unexplained infant child death cases and give states, municipalities and agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta more tools to help prevent these devastating tragedies,” said Isakson. “It will help save children’s lives and empower health care providers, parents and caregivers as we find ways to prevent unexplainable deaths.”
This legislation would coordinate efforts between the CDC in Atlanta and state and local agencies to improve reporting for Sudden Unexpected Infant Death and Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood through grant funding and a commissioned CDC study on testing and best practices in these cases.
Sudden Unexpected Infant Death refers to any sudden and unexpected death that occurs during infancy from birth to age one, including Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (more commonly known as SIDS) and other ill-defined deaths. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2017, there were 3,600 sudden unexpected infant deaths in the United States. Of these, there were about 1,400 deaths due to SIDS, about 1,300 deaths due to unknown causes, and about 900 deaths due to accidental suffocation and strangulation in bed.
According to the Department of Human Services, Sudden Unexplained Infant Deaths (SUID) make up the largest percentage of infant child deaths in Georgia. In 2010, SUID deaths accounted for 29.1% of all reviewed deaths as compared to 16% of child deaths that were ruled as homicides and 5.1% ruled as suicide.
Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood refers to the death of a child 12 months and older that remains unexplained after a thorough case review.
