European Information Network - Ethics in Medicine and Biotechnology
A project of the European Commission,Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme
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European Information Network - Ethics in Medicine and BiotechnologyA project of the European Commission,Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme |
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| Date: | 25.03.2009 to 28.03.2009 |
| Location: | Strasbourg Frankreich |
| Details: | The fetal and neonatal medicine raises difficult questions for the concerned parents but also for the medical doctors, the health care teams and also for the society itself. How should we manage the severe fetal pathology? How far can we push the limits of the resuscitation? Should we do everything we can do? According to an INSERM study, 40% of the former premature babies have cognitive, sensory or motor deficits by the age of five. Should we allow these 10.000 premature babies who are born in France every year to die? Even if 60% of them come along well in the long run? What is the appropriate “good” attitude? If the pathology is severe or lethal at birth, who takes part in the decision process, who decides? Is it possible to replace the medical abortion with palliative care as soon as the baby is born? In the postnatal period, the questions are not less crucial. Acute respiratory insufficiency, mutlivisceral organ failure, intracerebral hemorrhage can complicate the first week of life of premature babies leading to the question whether the medical team should go ahead with the intensive care measures. Later on in life especially neurological complications can sometimes appear in an already autonomous child. Intensive care manoeuvres at the time of delivery can cause severe neurological lesions. Threre are a lot of ethical dilemmas at this time in life: what should be done in those circumstances? How long is too long for resuscitation manoeuvres? Is actively giving death and letting die the same thing from the ethical point of view? Can an active stopping of life come after resuscitation manoeuvres over a limited time? These are difficult and crucial questions... Of course, the parents are primarily involved. However medicine, society and the health care teams are also concerned. These decisions must be “responsible” but what does responsibility mean in this context? They have to be considered and assumed. However they will probably often be debated and be difficult to assume especially if death closes the story of a lifetime. Grief of the parents and burnout of the health care professionals. Sometimes perseverance and the technical power of the medicine pay off. Then we hear and see joy and recognition. These two feelings allow medical teams to cope with whatever happens and to recognize as a standard a responsive conduct with attention for the singularities of the situations in life. A lot of skills are required to answer these questions. The discussion is not closed yet because these questions are challenging. However we need to face them: our humanity is at stake. |
| Contact: | Marie-Jo Thiel Address: To send a contribution The papers must be sent printed on paper and a word file for December 31st, 2008 to the followind address: CEERE, Centre Européen d'Enseignement et de Recherche en Ethique des universités de Strasbourg Faculté de médecine 4 Rue Kirschleger 67085 Strasbourg cedex FRANCE Tel: Fax: Email: marie-jo.thiel@medecine.u-strasbg.fr |
| Webpage: | http://umb-www-10.u-strasbg.fr/thiel/mjt.php/mjt.php?idr=29&id=87&lang=en |
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