A Dutch report on the ethics of neonatal care: a commentary

• Published in: Journal of medical ethics Vol. 21; no. 1; pp. 17 - 18
• Main Author: Rivers, RPA
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics 01-02-1995; BMJ Publishing Group; Society for the Study of Medical Ethics; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Bioethics; Child health services; Decision Making; Discourse ethics; Dissent and Disputes; Ethics; Euthanasia; Euthanasia, Active; Euthanasia, Passive; Group Processes; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infants; Life Support Care; Medical ethics; Medical practice; Morality; Neonatology; Netherlands; Organizational Policy; Parents; Patient Care; Pediatrics; Pharmaceutical Preparations; Physicians; Politics; Quality of Life; Societies; Ventilators; Withholding Treatment; Netherlands; Dutch Paediatric Association; Death and Euthanasia
• ISSN: 0306-6800; 1473-4257
• DOI: 10.1136/jme.21.1.17

The moral arguments and the decision-making processes arising from them in the context of the dilemmas that arise in considering the appropriateness and implementation of withholding or withdrawing treatment in certain neonates form the basis of this commentary. It is concluded that the differing opinions on management of these babies by individual paediatricians results from their differing moral outlooks rather than from any incoherence in the moral arguments set out in the Dutch report.