Abstract

KIE: This report of a 1984-1987 Hastings Center study project on the ethics of neonatal care was edited by Arthur Caplan, the project director, and Cynthia B. Cohen, one of the codirectors. The report is divided into sections on the history of decision making about neonatal intensive care in the U.S.; the effect of new pediatric capabilties and the problems of uncertainty; standards of judgement for treatment; the role of parents, medical professionals, the state, and hospital ethics committees in decision making; what actions are appropriate in cases where it has been determined that aggressive treatment is not in the interest of a particular infant; and familial and social obligations to seriously ill and disabled children.