28 CFR § 549.63 - Initial medical evaluation and management.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t28/s549.63"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "28 CFR § 549.63 - Initial medical evaluation and management."
title_number: 28
title_name: "Judicial Administration"
section_number: "549.63"
section_name: "Initial medical evaluation and management."
chapter_name: "BUREAU OF PRISONS, DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE"
subchapter_number: "C"
subchapter_name: "INSTITUTIONAL MANAGEMENT"
part_number: "549"
part_name: "MEDICAL SERVICES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 301; 10 U.S.C. 876b; 18 U.S.C. 3621, 3622, 3524, 4001, 4005, 4042, 4045, 4081, 4082 (Repealed in part as to offenses committed on or after November 1, 1987), Chapter 313, 5006-5024 (Repealed October 12, 1984 as to offenses committed after that date), 5039; 28 U.S.C. 509, 510."
cfr_part: "549"
---


# 549.63 Initial medical evaluation and management.

(a) Medical staff shall ordinarily perform the following procedures upon initial referral of an inmate on a hunger strike:

(1) Measure and record height and weight;

(2) Take and record vital signs;

(3) Urinalysis;

(4) Psychological and/or psychiatric evaluation;

(5) General medical evaluation;

(6) Radiographs as clinically indicated;

(7) Laboratory studies as clinically indicated.

(b) Medical staff shall take and record weight and vital signs at least once every 24 hours while the inmate is on a hunger strike. Other procedures identified in paragraph (a) of this section shall be repeated as medically indicated.

(c) When valid medical reasons exist, the physician may modify, discontinue, or expand any of the medical procedures described in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.

(d) When medical staff consider it medically mandatory, an inmate on a hunger strike will be transferred to a Medical Referral Center or to another Bureau institution considered medically appropriate, or to a community hospital.

[45 FR 23365, Apr. 4, 1980, as amended at 59 FR 31883, June 20, 1994]