Discontinuing life support in an Infant of a drug-addicted mother: Whose decision is it?

Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics

Volumn 6, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 48-54

  Jain, Renu ^a   Thomasma, David C ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ADDICTION; ADULT; ARTICLE; BRAIN DISEASE; CONFLICT; DEATH AND EUTHANASIA; DECISION MAKING; FEMALE; GROUP PROCESS; HUMAN; LONG TERM CARE; MALE; MEDICAL ETHICS; MENTAL CAPACITY; MENTAL STRESS; MORALITY; MOTHER; NEWBORN; PASSIVE EUTHANASIA; PATIENT ADVOCACY; PATIENT SELECTION; PREGNANCY; PREGNANCY COMPLICATION; PREMATURITY; QUALITY OF LIFE; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIOECONOMICS; STANDARD; TREATMENT WITHDRAWAL; UNCERTAINTY;

DEATH AND EUTHANASIA;

ADULT; BRAIN DISEASES; DECISION MAKING; DISSENT AND DISPUTES; ETHICS, MEDICAL; EUTHANASIA, PASSIVE; FEMALE; GROUP PROCESSES; HUMANS; INFANT, NEWBORN; INFANT, PREMATURE, DISEASES; LIFE SUPPORT CARE; MALE; MENTAL COMPETENCY; MORALS; MOTHERS; PATIENT ADVOCACY; PATIENT SELECTION; PREGNANCY; PREGNANCY COMPLICATIONS; QUALITY OF LIFE; SOCIAL JUSTICE; STRESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL; SUBSTANCE-RELATED DISORDERS; UNCERTAINTY; VALUE OF LIFE; WITHHOLDING TREATMENT;

EID: 0031433976     PISSN: 09631801     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0963180100007593     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Stahlman MT. Ethical issues in the nursery: priorities versus limits. Journal of Pediatrics 1990; 116:167-70.
2. Ryan CA, Byrne P, Kuhn S, et al. No resuscitation and withdrawal of therapy in a neonatal and a pediatric intensive care unit in Canada. Journal of Pediatrics 1993;124:534-8.
3. Clark FI. Intensive care treatment decision: the roots of our confusion. Pediatrics 1994;94:98-101.
4. Walters JW. Approaches to ethical decision making in the neonatal intensive care unit. American Journal of Diseases of Children 1988;142:825-30.
5. Smedira NG, Evans BH, Grais LS, et al. Withholding and withdrawal of life support from the critically ill. NEJM 1990;322:309-15.
6. Facing tragic decisions with parents in the neonatal intensive care unit. Clinical Perspectives in Pediatrics 1992;89:119-22.
7. Silverman WA. Overtreatment of neonates? a personal retrospective. Pediatrics 1992;90:971-6.
8. Sinclair JC, Torrance GW. From probability to preference. In: Gold worth A, Silverman W, Stevenson DK, et. al. eds. Ethics and Perinatology. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995:120-45.
9. Thomasma DC. Abstract medical knowledge, newborns, and uncertainty: a challenge to philosophy of medicine. In: Goldworth et al. 1995:146-62. See note 8.
10. Muraskas J, Marshall PA, Gianopolous JG, et al. Neonatal viability in the 1990's: held hostage by technology, Feb. 23, 1996. Submitted to Journal of Perinatology.
11. However, that commitment is not always possible, especially in light of media attention. See our analysis of the Lakeberg case: Thomasma DC, Muraskas J, Marshall PA, et al. What we learned from the Lakeberg twins. Hastings Center Report 1996;26, forthcoming.
12. Thomasma DC, Kushner T. A dialogue on compassion and supererogation in medicine. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 1995;4(4):415-25.
13. Thomasma DC. Human Life in the Balance. Louisville, Ky.: Westminster Press, 1990.
14. Johnson PE, The ACLU philosophy and right to abuse the unborn. Criminal Justice Ethics 1990; 9(1):48-51.
15. Swenson VJ, Crabbe C. Pregnant substance abusers: a problem that won't go away. St. Mary's Law Journal 1994;25:623-73.
16. American Medical Association, Report of the Board of Trustees. Treatment Versus Criminalization: Physician Role in Drug Addiction During Pregnancy. Resolution 131. Chicago: American Medical Association, 1990.
17. Campbell AGM, McHaffie HE. Prolonging life and allowing death: infants. Journal of Medical Ethics 1995;21(6):339-44.