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from Part II - The Most Vulnerable of Us
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 May 2025
This chapter of Complex Ethics Consultations: Cases that Haunt Us begins when the ethics consultant is asked if the mother (and suspect) in a case of shaken baby syndrome should be allowed to visit her child in the hospital. After two weeks, the baby remained ventilator dependent and the baby was likely to end up in a persistent vegetative state. Questions about whether the baby was suffering plagued everyone. Assuming parental roles and affections, nursing staff wanted to protect the baby and shift to comfort care. If this were authorized by the baby’s mother, she would face homicide charges. The baby’s mother visited as a prisoner, in chains. A prison guard compassionately unlocked the chains so she could touch her baby. The consultant is haunted by the sheer misery experienced by everyone, the persistent outrage from staff that her mom might serve as surrogate decision-maker, and the enduring sound of chains.
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