Amendments, enacted in 1984, to the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act concerning medical treatment decisions for seriously ill newborns. The amendments added the term “withholding of medically indicated treatment” to the statutory definition of child neglect; this is now often referred to as “medical neglect.” The law was passed in response to the Baby Doe case, and makes it a form of neglect to fail to treat correctable, life-threatening conditions in a child unless in the physician’s “reasonable medical judgment” (1) the child is irreversibly comatose, (2) treatment would be futile in saving the child’s life, or (3) the treatment would be virtually futile and inhumane under the circumstances. States must require hospitals to report cases of suspected medical neglect to the child protective service agencies, and provide procedures for appropriate intervention.