Neonates Are Devalued Compared to Older Patients

Abstract

According to bioethical principles, babies and older patients should be treated according to the same standards. In practice, newborn infants are treated differently in ways which show that they are valued less than older individuals. We provide six specific examples of this differential treatment and analyse the possible consequences of this devaluation. The Neonatal Resuscitation Programme textbook, which is the standard neonatal resuscitation text used in North America and many other countries states: " The ethical principles regarding resuscitation of newborns should be no different from those followed in resuscitating an older child or adult [1]. The Nuffield report, created following a multidisciplinary consultation process involving physicians, parents, ethicists and lawyers in the UK [2] specifies that " independent of gestational age, we consider, for example, a child of six days, months or years to be worthy of equal consideration". According to such principles, babies and older patients should be treated according to the same standards. In practice, newborn infants are treated differently in ways which show that they are valued less than older individuals. We provide six specific examples of this differential treatment and analyse the possible consequences of this devaluation.