Good Medical Practice describes what is expected of all doctors registered with the GMC. The guidance that follows, which is for all doctors, develops the duties and principles set out in Good Medical Practice and in our other guidance. It focuses on children and young people from birth until their 18th birthday
Aims: This guidance relating to the management of the birth of extremely preterm babies (at less than 26 weeks of gestation) is aimed at both parents and healthcare professionals. It addresses communication before delivery, management recommendations, neonatal resuscitation and ethical considerations. Intended audience: Obstetricians, healthcare professionals working in maternity settings, parents of preterm babies. Publication history information: Published online 06 October 2008.
The High Court has granted a Dublin maternity hospital orders allowing it to perform, if required, an emergency blood transfusion to the unborn child of a Jehovah's Witnesses couple who is at risk of being delivered prematurely. Today the court heard the child's mother, who is approximately 26 weeks pregnant, presented with a spontaneous premature ruptured membrane. Doctors at the hospital treating the woman, who cannot be identified by order of the court, say they can't predict exactly when the child will be delivered but that the likelihood of a premature birth is high. They claim in the event the child is born in the next four to five weeks the infant "most likely will require a transfusion of blood or blood related products in order to safeguard the child's life and prevent it from sustaining serious injury." However the parents, for religious reasons, have refused to give their consent to allow the hospital administer a transfusion to the child.
The right-to-die debate has gone a step futher in Belgium. Charlotte McDonald-Gibson speaks to a mother who wants others to avoid her baby’s slow, painful death.