Palliative care of the infant with lethal anomalies

Abstract

Although many families of infants with prenatally diagnosed lethal anomalies may receive counseling by clinicians with perinatal, neonatal, or genetic expertise and deliver their babies in a tertiary care center, pediatricians may be called on to support and care for these infants. Their involvement may begin prenatally, at the time of delivery, in the newborn nursery, or upon discharge home from a NICU. The goal of this article is to help the general pediatrician gain some comfort in knowing which cases might be considered and provide some tools and ideas for counseling a family from any point of involvement.