Low Birth Weight Infants

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the medical ethics of whether a low weight birth infant should receive life sustaining efforts from the ethical and legal perspective of the medical staff and the family members involved. The author points out the percentages of survival and legal statutes. The paper relates why these issues are crucial and how physicians are expected to assess the infants.

From the Paper:

"When we discuss the birth of a child, what comes to mind immediately is the beginning of life. No one thinks of imminent death or ailments that may indeed cause death. However, it is a cruel fact of life, for whatever reason that infants will die and that death does not discriminate. Sometimes, this fate involves those born prematurely or suffering from an extremely low body weight. These conditions will push a medical team into overdrive as they attempt to assess the viability of the child. This is not to determine if the child will die but to determine if the child will live. In addition to this, doctors must assess what type of quality of survival will occur, or will there be severe defects and will the child always be dependent on machines to exist."

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