• Anita Catlin and Brian Carter.
• Napa Valley College, Napa, CA 94558, USA. acatlin@napanet.net
• J Perinatol. 2002 Apr 1;22(3):184-95.

ObjectiveTo create a protocol delineating the needs of patients, families, and staff necessary to provide a pain-free, dignified, family-, and staff-supported death for newborns who cannot benefit from intensive, life-extending, technological support.Study DesignUsing Internet e-mail, a Delphi study with sequential questionnaires soliciting participant response, investigator analysis, and follow-up responses from participants was conducted to build a consensus document. Institutional review was granted and respondents gave consent. Recruitment was conducted at medical, ethics, nursing, and multidisciplinary organization meetings. Synthesis of 16 palliative care/end-of-life protocols developed by regional, institutional, and parent organizations was included. Participants from 93 locations in the US and 4 abroad gave feedback to 13 questions derived from clinical experience and the literature. The data underwent four rounds of analysis with 95% retention of the 101 participants over an 18-month period.Results/ConclusionSpecific consensus-based recommendations are presented with a description of palliative care; categories of candidates; planning and education needed to begin palliative care services; relationships between community and tertiary centers; components of optimally supported neonatal death; family care, including cultural, spiritual, and practical needs; ventilator withdrawal, including pain and symptom management; recommendations when death does not occur after cessation of life-extending interventions; family follow-up care; and necessary ongoing staff support.

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