PLEA OF AN AUSTRALIAN NEONATOLOGIST

[摘要] Neonatologists must advocate limits to care where benefits are marginal or in doubt, where substantial risks of death are present despite long arduous treatments, where quality of life with survival will be poor, and where costs are out of proportion and escalating. This will mean limiting care in a wide range of clinical situations, not just the care of extremely tiny babies. Where tiny babies are concerned, "viability" cannot be the sole determinant of limits, since it will continue to be pushed to earlier gestations at ever-increasing cost. Limits must be set soon. The moral issues will not change. Costs will not diminish.

[学科分类] 儿科学