News In Brief

'Baby Doe' legislation signed by the President

President Reagan signed the ''Baby Doe'' legislation Tuesday that permits the prosecution of medical personnel who withhold treatment of infants diagnosed as severely handicapped.

The ''Child Abuse Amendments of 1984'' bill expands the definition of child abuse to include medical neglect. The only allowed exception is in cases where, in the doctor's ''reasonable medical judgment,'' the infant is judged irretrievably comatose and, in the doctor's opinion, would not survive even with medical treatment.