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Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life

The primary moral commitment of medical care has traditionally been based on a belief in the intrinsic value and significance of human life and a desire to protect the most vulnerable from harm. In this respect, the care of newborn infants who are at the border of viability is no different. Despite...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Wyatt, John, Hain, Richard
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8947574/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35327716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9030344
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author Wyatt, John
Hain, Richard
author_facet Wyatt, John
Hain, Richard
author_sort Wyatt, John
collection PubMed
description The primary moral commitment of medical care has traditionally been based on a belief in the intrinsic value and significance of human life and a desire to protect the most vulnerable from harm. In this respect, the care of newborn infants who are at the border of viability is no different. Despite the intrinsic value of the life of every newborn, all agree that there is no moral duty of doctors to provide every possible treatment where the prognosis is hopeless. Instead, every action and treatment should be orientated towards the best interests of the individual child and towards the minimisation of serious harm. Decisions about the withholding or withdrawal of life-supportive treatment should be made collaboratively between professionals and parents, with discussion starting prior to delivery wherever possible. The goals of neonatal palliative care are to prevent or minimise pain and distressing symptoms and to maximise the opportunity for private, loving interaction between the dying baby and his or her parents and the wider family. Physical contact, gentle stroking, cuddles and tender loving care are of central importance for the dying baby. At the same time, we must provide psychological support for parents and family as they go through the profound and painful life experience of accompanying their baby to death. To enable a baby to die well, pain-free and in the arms of loving parents and carers is not a failure but a triumph of neonatal care.
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spelling pubmed-89475742022-03-25 Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life Wyatt, John Hain, Richard Children (Basel) Review The primary moral commitment of medical care has traditionally been based on a belief in the intrinsic value and significance of human life and a desire to protect the most vulnerable from harm. In this respect, the care of newborn infants who are at the border of viability is no different. Despite the intrinsic value of the life of every newborn, all agree that there is no moral duty of doctors to provide every possible treatment where the prognosis is hopeless. Instead, every action and treatment should be orientated towards the best interests of the individual child and towards the minimisation of serious harm. Decisions about the withholding or withdrawal of life-supportive treatment should be made collaboratively between professionals and parents, with discussion starting prior to delivery wherever possible. The goals of neonatal palliative care are to prevent or minimise pain and distressing symptoms and to maximise the opportunity for private, loving interaction between the dying baby and his or her parents and the wider family. Physical contact, gentle stroking, cuddles and tender loving care are of central importance for the dying baby. At the same time, we must provide psychological support for parents and family as they go through the profound and painful life experience of accompanying their baby to death. To enable a baby to die well, pain-free and in the arms of loving parents and carers is not a failure but a triumph of neonatal care. MDPI 2022-03-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8947574/ /pubmed/35327716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9030344 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Wyatt, John
Hain, Richard
Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title_full Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title_fullStr Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title_full_unstemmed Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title_short Redirecting Care: Compassionate Management of the Sick or Preterm Neonate at the End of Life
title_sort redirecting care: compassionate management of the sick or preterm neonate at the end of life
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8947574/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35327716
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children9030344
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