1. (a) The Texas Department of Health (department), recognizing the sensitive and confidential nature of information collected regarding birth defects and their possible causes, shall expect all staff to carry out all duties in a professional, compassionate, and culturally sensitive manner.
2. (b) It is the policy of the Texas Birth Defects Monitoring Division to limit medical researcher contact with individuals and families identified by the central registry to only those studies with high scientific merit with no feasible alternate means of conducting the study.
3. (c) It is also the policy of the Texas Birth Defects Monitoring Division to protect patient information from disclosure through the legal process.

Source Note:The provisions of this §37.302 adopted to be effective October 20, 1994, 19 TexReg 8032.