Evidence-based ethics and the care and outcome of extremely premature infants

Clin Perinatol. 2003 Jun;30(2):363-87. doi: 10.1016/s0095-5108(03)00028-9.

Abstract

The care of extremely premature infants involves a number of complex clinical and ethical issues. The ethical and scientific quality of decisions made in the care of these infants has profound long-term consequences for these infants and their families. In circumstances when it is unclear whether intensive care should be initiated or continued, evidence-based ethics provides an approach to facilitate treatment decisions that over time will be progressively better informed, better justified, and more broadly acceptable to parents, caregivers, and the general public.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Critical Care*
  • Ethics, Medical*
  • Evidence-Based Medicine*
  • Humans
  • Infant, Low Birth Weight*
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Infant, Premature*
  • Infant, Premature, Diseases / therapy*
  • Intensive Care Units, Neonatal
  • Therapeutic Human Experimentation