Snyder signs law requiring safe sleep information

Michigan governor signs law requiring hospitals to give safe sleep materials to parents

5/14/2014

LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder has signed a law requiring hospitals to give materials to new parents about safe sleeping practices for infants.

The governor signed the measure today while being joined by families of infants who died because of unsafe sleep. The law requires hospitals to prescribe a parental acknowledgment form for safe sleep information and to put it in the child’s medical record if signed.

More than 130 Michigan babies died last year due to unsafe sleep. If requested, the state will provide materials to hospitals or health professionals at no cost.

Snyder says it’ll help to have a “systematic” way of educating people. The bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Gail Haines of Lake Angelus.