Pa. enacts expanded medical tests for newborns

Pennsylvania has a new law to expand medical testing of newborns, legislation designed to help combat rare disorders.

Gov. Tom Corbett on Wednesday signed into law a requirement that medical facilities add lysosomal storage disorders, including Krabbe disease to routine testing.

In attendance at the bill signing in the Capitol were Justin Ginion and Vicki Pizzullo, whose daughter Hannah was diagnosed with Krabbe disease too late to try a cord blood transplant that may have helped.

Hannah is now 20 months old, and her mother described the disease’s severe effects.

Health Secretary Michael Wolf says the bill will give parents “the greatest gift of all — the chance to raise their children as happy and healthy as possible.”

The law goes into effect in two months.