News In Brief

Judge rules against Baby Doe intervention

A federal judge on Wednesday declared the government's ''Baby Doe'' regulations illegal and said they can no longer be enforced. The decision was issued by US District Court Judge Charles L. Brieant Jr. in a suit filed by the American Medical Association and five other groups against Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler.

The judge based his decision on a ruling Feb. 23 by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of a Long Island infant, diagnosed as severely handicapped and known in court records as ''Baby Jane Doe.''

The appeals court had barred the federal government from reviewing the baby's hospital records to find out if a decision to deny surgery had discriminated against the child.