Scary Gov. Healey wants to put bureaucrats into the homes of newborns
by Editorial Board · The Washington TimesOPINION:
If you give birth in Massachusetts, Big Sister will be watching you.
Gov. Maura Healey, a Democrat and an inveterate proponent of big government, has proposed a program to send nurses to newborns’ homes.
The governor told Boston Public Radio: “Everybody in the state, when you have a baby, you’re going to have a home visit within days, weeks, and that will be an opportunity for a healthcare provider to make an assessment to see if you need some additional support and resources.”
Opportunity to “make an assessment” sounds ominous.
The plan raises a number of disturbing questions. What if the family does not want to provide access to their home? Will the nurse-monitor be empowered to enter anyway, perhaps with police support?
What are the resources, and what if the family does not want them? If there is a disagreement over, say, feeding or bedtime, who prevails: the family or the bureaucratic expert?
The plan was announced in the wake of the high-profile Lindsay Clancy murder trial in Massachusetts, which ended in a mistrial after the jury could not reach a unanimous decision on whether the mother — who admitted to killing her three children — was criminally liable. According to court records and testimony, Ms. Clancy was under the care of two psychiatrists and several other clinicians who prescribed 13 medications to manage her bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis. Her defense argued that the overmedication severely worsened her condition.
What if Ms. Healey’s nurse-monitor decides the mother needs to be medicated? If something goes wrong, will the state take responsibility?
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Amy Carnevale, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, said, “I’m a mom of three” — unlike Ms. Healey, who is childless. “And doctors, today, they ask about postpartum depression. They ask about the need for resources. So there are plenty of resources available to women after they have children in Massachusetts and nationwide.”
Ms. Carnevale called Ms. Healey’s plan a classic example of “government overreach.”
It is reasonable to ask where Ms. Healey’s plan could lead.
If the state monitor and family disagree on an aspect of childcare, whose opinion will prevail? What if the monitor decides that the family is too large and each child is not receiving adequate attention? Will she have the power to order the parents to practice birth control?
President Reagan once said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ’I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.’”
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Ms. Healey’s home visits scheme would certainly qualify for Reagan’s admonition.
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