Comments on: Is Letting a 21 Week Premature Baby Die, Considered Health Care Rationing?

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:34:12 +0000

Thank you for sharing. I was admittedly shocked and saddened when I first heard this story. However your story and the comments of others have taught me a lot. It makes me wonder if the doctors didn’t give her the right briefing and info that you say you give your patients. The girl in the story makes it sound like the doctors said “eh, he won’t survive, see ya”. So if that is the case, she has a right to be upset.

However if they would have told her all the possible scenarios, then she should have been prepared and this wouldn’t even be a news story.

I have one question based on a comment I read. How many weeks you are can often be just a guess, not everyone always knows exactly when they conceived. How do they know if it was 22 weeks and 1 day or 23 weeks? Those few days make such a big difference in a decision to save a life, so is that a question you ever have to deal with in your job?

Thanks

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Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:18:23 +0000

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By: Ervin

Ervin — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:26:35 +0000

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By: jen

jen — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:53:09 +0000

i just want to say i’m a mother of a 24 week baby girl. And i remember for myself before i had Ava i was asked if i wanted her revived and of course i said yes do everything you can to save her.. And that was because almost exactly to the day i had a son at 20 weeks 6days and was stilborn and my daughter made my 6th pregnancy. so i understand the loss part so yes i wanted them to do anything tohelp her if they could. Now that being said my daughter came out alive which was a relief for me until the nightmare began.. my daughter weighed 1pound 4oz but after all the surgerys she went through and she had grade 3 and 4 brain bleeds i second guessed what i said at the begining and told them if she gave up to let her go that would be her way of telling me she was done fighting which she never did. surprisingly she is a very happy 1 year old as of friday and is perfect don’t have any problems is actually advanced in many ways and is not behind on anything off her due date. but we are reminded of all the scars everytime we change her and there is a lot she had 4 surgerys and many times thought she was not going to make it. but after seeing her and what she went through i no my son Aidon that i had 2 years before it was better he went the way he did rather then me watching him suffer cause what a lot of people don’t realize is they have 1 size tube and if they can’t get that vent tube down there is nothing they can do for the baby.. i no after Aidon died i hated the world some of the docs everything until i saw what my daughter went through and then i realized… and yes my daughter pulled through doesn’t mean the next will or have a bunch of life term problems. i no when we were leaving the hopsital with our daughter her head nurse came to see us and told us about a little girl he just had just like Ava same weight 24 weeker had the intestine problem and they were going to do surgery and he thought for sure she would pull through considering Ava went through hell and she didn’t make it and he was shocked and couldn’t believe it… I miss my son to i feel for this mother but she will have to realize as i did i had to stop thinking about me wanting him and what about what he would of went through to fight if there was anything they could do to save him.. in these situations as a mother your first reaction is to blame the doctor or nurse in they could of done this or that… sorry for rambling i just came across this and wanted to share my story

By: Chelle

Chelle — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:41:01 +0000

I as a midwife in the UK have to agree with you. I have attended and deivered babies of gestations ranging from 16 weeks to term. The reality is that the very small babies are not going to survive without the most intensive care that is putting them and their parents through such severe pain. There is no law as such in the uk that determines at which gestation we should or should not resuscitate babies, its up to discussions with the paediatricians and parents. I just wish the general public would see the entire picture……….

By: Tammy RN

Tammy RN — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 14:01:58 +0000

Dear RR and other readers on this topic,

Because of the healthcare debate and the lack of understanding of the actual limitations of neonatology, this story continues to be perpetuated in Prolife media circles. I spent days writing, emailing, & calling organizations to inform them of the misunderstood realities of this case (and those like it – for the very reasons RR posted) and after a week of beating my head against a wall, I was the MC of a gala and the keynote speaker got up to give her speech and about 10 minutes in, guess what she said – OH yes, the case of the British 21 weeker brutally left to die. I put my head in my hands and nearly wept.

After her speech, I approached her (we were at the same table) and explained carefully why that story is inaccurate and why advocating aggressive care for 21 weekers is without basis.

These well meaning but misguided folks need to go to Medical and Nursing school and they can take our places and when they have YEARS of experience of watching these little treasures die in horrible pain, they can come back ad tell us who was right.

Im with the dad above who said that turning the suffering of babies onto political fodder is disgusting.

By: Molly

Molly — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:21:24 +0000

“How many people do we have in this country that don’t necesarily have the legal papers to be here, but use our medical assistance programs and our state aid programs? Aren’t those the ones we should be concerned about monitering there use of our health care system.”

Careful. Those are people you are talking about- living people who have just as much a right to health care as any other individual on this planet. I suggest that the next time an undocumented individual comes to an ER with a life threatening ailment that you be the one to turn them away.

By: O'Cuinn

O'Cuinn — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:30:17 +0000

I am a NICU RN. I think every pregnancy should be considered uniquely – along with every premature/term infant. However, it is still important to look at typical fetal development. You cannot ventilate a “typical” 21 weeker as the blood vessels have not yet reached the alveoli! It is impossible. No matter what you do, if the lungs have not yet developed, the infant will die. Furthermore, the less the gestational age the higher likelihood of other moralities.

Everyone is so afraid of dying in our society. What about living in agony? Intubated, unable to express pain & therefore nurses unable to determine if you are in pain, multiple IV starts, infections, surgeries…etc…

Injustice doesn’t even describe what some of these babies have to go through.

By: Tammy RN

Tammy RN — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:37:01 +0000

I wish that people understood that the case of the single 21+ weeker was miraculous…miracle…as in God choosing to suspend the natural laws to change something. God is God and can do what he wants, but we cant make broad policy based on isolated miracles. When we see 22-23 weekers admitted to the NICU, they have thier honeyoon time then die awful deaths. We havent had a single 23 weeker that Im aware of survive…some 24 weekers do ok. 21-22 weeks… automatic comfort care.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 02:03:25 +0000

While my heart breaks for this mother who has lost so many, I could not agree with you more. I watched my son fight for his life as a 33 weeker and know what a rollercoaster it is. At the extreme prematurity of a 21-22 weeks or even less, what kind of a life are they going to really be able to have? One with no real quality, but one filled with pain, machines and hospitals. Allowing the too-soon fetus pass with dignity and love felt from their parents is all that I would hope for them.