• Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. · Aug 1997

    Case Reports

    Parental rights at the birth of a near-viable infant: conflicting perspectives.

    • J V Pinkerton, J J Finnerty, P A Lombardo, M V Rorty, H Chapple, and R J Boyle.
    • Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, USA.
    • Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 1997 Aug 1;177(2):283-8; discussion 288-90.

    ObjectiveOur purpose was to clarify the roles of parents and caregivers in making decisions for resuscitation of near-viable infants.Study DesignWe present two cases and review ethical and legal issues involved in making decisions for near-viable infants.ResultsMedical responsibility for the infant shifts at birth from obstetrics to neonatology. Neonatologists will "opt for life" when prognosis is uncertain. As surrogate decision makers, parents have rights to make decisions about initiation of resuscitation, but these parental rights are limited by the infant's best interests. If caregivers believe parents are not acting in the infant's best interests, they may persuade parents, challenge parental refusal by petitioning the courts, or treat without consent with possible legal risk.ConclusionsEffective communication is essential to prevent misunderstanding and conflicts. In most instances parents are the best decision makers for a near-viable infant. Parental rights are limited by best interests of the infant.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…