P.R. Laws tit. 24, § 3531
For purposes of the present chapter, the terms stated below shall have the following meanings:
(a) Case. — Means any pregnancy result up to an infant of or under the age of six (6) that has been diagnosed to have a birth defect.
(b) Event. — Any product of a pregnancy, to be understood as a live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, therapeutic abortion or termination.
(c) Teratogens. — Substances that are toxic and affect the embryo and the fetus in its development.
(d) Pregnancy result. — It is defined as any product of a pregnancy, to be understood as live birth, stillbirth, miscarriage, therapeutic abortion, fetal death and termination.
(e) Department. — Means the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
(f) System. — Refers to the Puerto Rico Birth Defect Monitoring System and to the scientific and systemic gathering of cases in Puerto Rico.
(g) Birth defect. — Shall be understood to be that physical abnormality, structural in nature, present in a human embryo, fetus, infant or child of or under the age of six (6), resulting from one (1) or more genetic or environmental causes, or both; these must be present at birth and be manifest and capable of being diagnosed prenatally through diagnostic tests.
(h) Health professionals. — Those professionals or persons whose profession or tasks are related in any way to the preservation of the health of another person and whose performance is supported by certain minimum formal education requirements and a Commonwealth license or certification that [accredits] their capability to perform such tasks.
(i) Health services and diagnostic facilities. — The term includes: general or specialized hospitals; clinics licensed by the Department of Health; public or private schools of medicine; clinical or pathologic laboratories, public agencies or private institutions offering any kind of services to children with birth defects; and any other medical or health institutions or establishments which treat or diagnose a birth defect, or which receive useful information for the identification of birth defects in the population of Puerto Rico.
(j) Designated representative. — Any person who represents a hospital, agency, clinical laboratory, genetics laboratory or medical facility, designated to maintain the birth defect registry.
(k) Alpha-fetoprotein. — Protein produced by the fetus which goes through the placenta and reaches the mother’s circulatory system. The levels of this protein in maternal serum are used as a screening test to detect some birth defects.
(l) Corionic Villus Sample (CVS). — This test is useful in diagnosing of birth defects such as trisomies.
(m) Amniocentesis. — This test corroborates chromosomal and neural tube problems in the fetus.
(n) Ultrasonogram. — A high-resolution radiological study that allows for the detection of traits in the fetus which are associated with birth defects.
History —Sept. 16, 2004, No. 351, § 3.