Early Management and Decision-Making for the Treatment of Myelomeningocele at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center: Observations Clinical and Ethical

Lorber John “Ethical problems in the management of myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus-I.” Nursing Times (Feb. 26, 1976). 5–8. Originally published in the Journal of the Royal College of Physicians. October, 1975.

Hide D. W. , Williams , & Ellis Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology. 1972; 14: 304.

Stark G. D. , & Drummond Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1973; 48: 676.

Smith G. K. , & Smith “Selections for treatment in spina bifida cystica.” British Medical Journal. 1973; 4: 189–197.

Woolraich M.C. “Medical, ethical, and legal issues in selective use of rehabilitative care in the management of children with spina bifida.” Spina Bifida Therapy. 1980; 2: 213–222.

Feetham S. , Tweed , & Perrin “Practical problems in the selection of spina bifida infants for treatment in the USA.” Z Kinderchir. 1979; 28: 301–306.

Robertson J. A. “Dilemma in Danville.” Hastings Center Report. 1981; 11: 5–8.

Lawrence K.M. “The natural history of spina bifida.” Archives of Disease in Childhood. 1964; 39: 41–57.

Freeman John “Early management and decision making for the treatment of myelomeningocele: a critique.” Pediatrics. 1984; 4: 564–566.

Hentoff Nat “The awful privacy of Baby Doe.” Atlantic Monthly. (January 1985), 54–62.

Cohen P. “Myelomeningocele VI general considerations.” Western Journal of Medicine. 1974; 121: 300–304.

The report mentions that fortunately this situation did not arise, and in the cases of their negative recommendations there were no crises.

Lorber John “Ethical problems in the management of myelomeningocele and hydrocephalus-II.” Nursing Times. (March 25, 1976). 9–11.

For recent evidence of the change in Britain in favor of the parents making the decision, editorial. “The right to live and the right to die.” British Medical Journal. 1981; 183: 569–570.

On some definite special education successes with teenagers, Sherman, Roberta G. “Increasing community independence for adolescents with spina bifida.” Adolescence. 1985; 20 1–13.

Shaw Anthony “Defining quality of life.” Hastings Center Report. 1977; 7: 11.

For Richard McCormick's studies: “To save or let die.” America. (July 13, 1974). 76–10. (Also published in JAMA. 1974; 229: 172-186) and. “Saving defective infants: Options for life or death.” America. (April 23, 1983), 313-317 (with John Paris. S.J.).

For this report. “Ethics of selective treatment of spina bifida,” Lancet. (Jan. 11, 1975). 85–88.

Horan Dennis J. , & Balch Burke J. “Infant Doe and Baby Doe: Medical treatment and the handicapped newborn.” Linacre Quarterly. 1985; 52: 45–76.

As cited in Hentoff, p. 61.

The ethical comment above has been deliberately philosophical rather than theological. In a later study, with broader focus. I intend to examine the specifically theological aspects of “letting infants die,” the responsibilities involved in the light of Christ's ethical teaching on the extent and breadth of God's loving-kindness — the pattern for our care, concern for others, the “widow, poor, orphan,” as well as the “least” in particular.