Neonatal euthanasia

Seminars in Perinatology
Alexander A Kon

Abstract

Despite advances in the care of infants, there remain many newborns whose medical conditions are incompatible with sustained life. At times, healthcare providers and parents may agree that prolonging life is not an appropriate goal of care, and they may redirect treatment to alleviate suffering. While pediatric palliative treatment protocols are gaining greater acceptance, there remain some children whose suffering is unrelenting despite maximal efforts. Due to the realization that some infants suffer unbearably (ie, the burdens of suffering outweigh the benefits of life), the Dutch have developed a protocol for euthanizing these newborns. In this review, I examine the ethical aspects of 6 forms of end of life care, explain the ethical arguments in support of euthanasia, review the history and verbiage of the United States regulations governing limiting and withdrawing life-prolonging interventions in infants, describe the 3 categories of neonates for whom the Dutch provide euthanasia, review the published analyses of the Dutch protocol, and finally present some practical considerations should some form of euthanasia ever be deemed appropriate.

References

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Citations

Jul 12, 2011·The Journal of Maternal-fetal & Neonatal Medicine : the Official Journal of the European Association of Perinatal Medicine, the Federation of Asia and Oceania Perinatal Societies, the International Society of Perinatal Obstetricians·Hercilia GuimarãesGiuseppe Buonocore
Sep 27, 2013·Clinical Ethics·Serge Vanden Eijnden, Dana Martinovici
Jun 28, 2018·BMC Pediatrics·Isabelle AujoulatUNKNOWN 11 neonatal intensive care units in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation
Oct 13, 2020·Frontiers in Pediatrics·DonnaMaria E Cortezzo, Mark Meyer

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