Pain definitions revised: newborns not only feel pain, they also suffer

Abstract

Premature babies are relatively unreactive, often being completely isolated in an incubator and considered incapable of social behavior. To the attentive observer, however, they reveal an unsuspected emotional world: not only do they feel pain (the clash arising from an attack to their physical integrity), but they are also capable of suffering (the clash arising from an attack to their person's integrity) as they are persons. In this paper the author argues in favour of newborns' personhood. This needs to be considered in neonatal analgesic treatment, even for extremely small babies, as recognition and adequate treatment of neonatal pain is still resisted: full acknowledgement of neonatal dignity and personhood is a prerequisite for an effective treatment of neonatal pain.