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Chapter 1 - Quality of Life – and of Ethics Consultation – in the NICU

from Part I - Starting at the Beginning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 May 2025

Paul J. Ford
Affiliation:
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland
Denise M. Dudzinski
Affiliation:
University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle
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Summary

In this chapter of Complex Ethics Consultations: Cases that Haunt Us, the authors reflect on the case of a term newborn with cardiac, respiratory, skeletal, and renal anomalies. His prognosis was unclear. Just as his respiratory status begins to improve, the baby’s parents request discontinuation of mechanical ventilation, believing he faced an inevitable, protracted death. The covering NICU team requests an ethics consultation. The consultant supports the parent’s decision and the baby died in his parent’s arms. When the NICU team returns, they express great concern, believing that terminal withdrawal at this point should have been discouraged, leaving the authors haunted by the consultation.

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Chapter
Information
Complex Ethics Consultations
Cases that Haunt Us
, pp. 15 - 20
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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References

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