Legislation Result of Constituent Who Lost Son to Undiagnosed Disease
Earlier this year Heather Long of Leander shared with Representative Gattis the story of losing her 5 year old son Cal in 2006 to an undiagnosed disease.
Heathers purpose for contacting Representative Gattis was to ask for the establishment of an undiagnosed registry and tissue repository. Representative Gattis introduced legislation to do just that - establish a registry of deaths caused by undiagnosed diseases.
HB 2294 establishes an undiagnosed registry allowing researchers to utilize the data to find shared commonalities that will assist in making a diagnosis and ultimately finding cures. This registry will also allow medical professionals and researchers throughout the State of Texas to track the number and types of undiagnosed cases. It also allows for the retention of tissue samples for future research by medical professionals.
This bill would establish a registry of undiagnosed deaths so over time families like the Longs wont have to go without answers on the cause of their little boys death. It is hard enough to lose a loved one but not knowing the cause makes it even harder to understand Representative Gattis said. This bill will be valuable in assisting with medical research disease diagnosis and ultimately finding cures for diseases.
Today Representative Gattis presented his bill to the Committee on Public Health. Heather Long traveled to the Capitol to testify in favor of the legislation.
Representative Gattis is serving his fourth term in the Texas House of Representatives and represents House District 20 which includes much of Williamson County and all of Milam County.
