Ethics of refusing parental requests to withhold or withdraw treatment from their premature baby

Ethics of refusing parental requests to withhold or withdraw treatment from their premature baby.

In the United Kingdom women have access to termination of pregnancy for maternal reasons until 24 weeks' completed gestation, but it is accepted practice for children born at or beyond 25 weeks' gestation to be treated according to the child's perceived best interests even if this is not in accordance with parental wishes. The authors present a case drawn from clinical practice which highlights...

Physicians' decisions to withhold and withdraw life-sustaining treatment.

BACKGROUND Few data are available about physicians' decisions in regard to withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining measures. We therefore studied internists' views on this subject. METHODS We surveyed 1000 generalist and subspecialist internists about their views on withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. Thirty-two hypothetical cases were included. The effect of the demograp...

The parents' ability to take care of their baby as a factor in decisions to withhold or withdraw life-prolonging treatment in two Dutch NICUs.

In The Netherlands, it is openly acknowledged that the parents' ability to take care of their child plays a role in the decision-making process over administration of life-prolonging treatment to severely defective newborn babies. Unlike other aspects of such decision-making process up until the present time, the 'ability to take care' has not received specific attention in regulation or in emp...

Futile or fruitful: the charter and the decision to withhold or withdraw life-sustaining treatment.

Interveners or Interferers: Intervention in Decisions to Withhold and Withdraw Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment

An important feature of our judicial system is the discretion a court has to allow an individual or (more usually) a group who is not a party to proceedings to intervene in a dispute between others. While historically it has been comparatively rare for a non-party to become involved in litigation, over the past fifteen years, courts appear to have become more willing to allow such intervention....