Journal of paediatrics and child health
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The aim of this study was to review the frequency of decisions to withdraw treatment from neonates who had died in a large neonatal intensive care unit, the reasons for these decisions, and the procedures followed. A 12 month retrospective review of medical and nursing records was undertaken. ⋯ It is concluded that withdrawal of treatment resulting in death occurs frequently in the neonatal intensive care service of National Women's Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand, but is usually a recognition of the inevitable. Truly elective withdrawal of treatment is uncommon in the immature infant, but does occur in the context of multiple abnormalities or severe birth asphyxia, where it follows a formal procedure.