The Marginally Viable Newborn: Legal Challenges,Conceptual Inadequacies,and Reasonableness

See e.g., Janvier A. Barrington K. J. , “The Ethics of Neonatal Resuscitation at the Margins of Viability: Informed Consent and Outcomes,” Journal of Pediatrics 147 (2005): 579–85; and Lorenz J. M. , “Ethical Dilemmas in the Care of the most Premature Infants: The Waters are Murkier than Ever,” Current Opinions in Pediatrics 17, no. 2 (2005): 186–190.

Boseley S. , “Should Doctors do all they can to Keep Very Premature Babies Alive?” Guardian Unlimited, June 9, 2005, accessible on-line at <http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/thisweek/story/0,1679792,00.html> (last visited April 18, 2006).

Miller v. HCA, Inc. , 118 S.W.3d 758, 771 (Tex. 2003).

Higgins R. D. Delivoria-Papadopoulos M. Raju T. N. K. , “Executive Summary of the Workshop on the Border of Viability,” Pediatrics 115, no. 5 (2005): 1392–1396.

See, e.g. Rhoden N. K. , “Treating Baby Doe: The Ethics of Uncertainty,” Hastings Center Report 16 (1986): 34–42; Weir R. F. , Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns: Moral Dilemmas in Neonatal Medicine (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984); Deciding to Forego Life-Sustaining Treatment: A Report on Ethical, Medical, and Legal Issues in Treatment Decisions (Washington, D.C.: President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research, 1983): 218–9.

Annas G. J. , “Extremely Preterm Birth and Parental Authority to Refuse Treatment – The Case of Sidney Miller,” New Engl. J. of Med. 351, no. 20 (2004): 2118–2123.

H. MacDonald and the Committee on the Fetus and Newborn, “Perinatal Care at the Threshold of Viability,” Pediatrics 110, no. 5 (2002): 1024–1027.

Contributors and Reviewers for the Neonatal Resuscitation Guidelines, “International Guidelines for Neonatal Resuscitation: An Excerpt From the Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care: International Consensus on Science,” Pediatrics 106, no. 3 (2000), available at <http://www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/106/3/e29> (last visited April 18, 2006).

Wall S. N. Partridge J. C. , “Death in the Intensive Care Nursery: Physician Practice of Withdrawing and Withholding Life Support,” Pediatrics 99 (1997): 64–70.

Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2001, Report together with additional and dissenting views of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 107th Cong, 1st Sess (August 2, 2001): 1–38, at 3. (Purpose and Summary).

Pub L. No. 107-207, 116 Stat 926 (2002).

Sayeed S. A. , “‘Baby Doe Redux?’ The Department of Health and Human Services and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002: A Cautionary Note on Normative Neonatal Practice,” Pediatrics 116 no. 4 (2005), available at <www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/116/4/e576-e585> (requires subscription – link through <www.pediatrics.org/cgi/content/full/116/4>) (last visited April 18, 2006).

Boyle D. Carlo W. A. Goldsmith J. , and the American Academy of Pediatrics Neonatal Resuscitation Program Steering Committee, Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2001, Public Law No. 107-207; Pediatrics 111, no. 3 (2003): 680–6811.

42 U.S.C. § 1395dd (1994).

Center for Medicaid and State Operations/Survey and Certification Group, Interaction of the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) and the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002, Baltimore, MD, US Dept of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; April 22, 2005. Ref: S&C-05-26.

42 CFR 489.24 (10/1/04 Ed.)

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Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2001, Report Together with Additional and Dissenting Views of the House Committee on the Judiciary, 107th Congress, 1st Session (2001), August 2, 2001: 1–38.

See Montalvo v. Borkovec , 647 N.W.2d 413 (Wis.App. 2002), and Miller v. HCA, Inc., 118 S.W.3d 758, 771 (Tex. 2003).

Cf., Lopez-Soto v. Hawayek, 175 F.3d 170 (1st Cir. 1999).

Preston v. Meriter Hosp. , 2005 WI 122.

Burks v. St. Joseph's Hospital , 223 Wis. 2d 265, 588 N.W.2d 927, 929 (1999).

Hurst I. , “Baby Doe Rules [letter],” Pediatrics 116 (2005): 1600–1602.

Miller v. HCA, Inc. , 118 S.W.3d 758 (Tex. 2003).

Nondiscrimination on the basis of Handicap; Procedures and Guidelines Relating to Health Care for Handicapped Infants – HHS, Final Rules, Federal Register 50 (1985): 14879–14892.

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Fine R. L. Whitfield J. M. Carr B. L. , and Mayo T. W. , “Medical Futility in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Hope for a Resolution,” Pediatrics 116 (2005): 1219–1222

Lorenz J. M. , Seminars in Neonatology 8 (2003): 475–482; Lucey J. F. Rowan C. A. Shiono P. , “Fetal Infants: The Fate of 4172 Infants with Birth Weights of 401 to 500 Grams – The Vermont Oxford Network Experience (1996–2000),” Pediatrics 113 (2004): 1559–1565

Paris J. J. Schreiber M. D. , and Reardon F. , “Ethical and Legal Issues,” in Assisted Ventilation of the Newborn, 4th edition, Goldsmith J. P. and Karotkin E. H. , eds. (New York: Saunders, 2003): 81.

Kopelman L. M. , “Baby Doe Rules,” [letter] Pediatrics 116 (2005); 514–515.

Frader J. E. , “Baby Doe Rules,” [letter] Pediatrics 116 (2005): 1601–1602.

Buchanan A. , “Medical Paternalism,” Philosophy and Public Affairs 7, no. 4 (1978): 78–109.

Arras J. , “Toward an Ethic of Ambiguity,” Hastings Center Report 4 (1985): 25–33.

In re Christopher I. (2003) 106 Cal.App.4th 533.

Montalvo v. Borkovec, 647 N.W.2d 413 (Wis.App. 2002).

Robertson J. A. , “Involuntary Euthanasia of Defective Newborns: A Legal Analysis,” Stanford Law Review 27 (1975): 213–254.

Gillett G. , “Reasoning in Bioethics,” Bioethics 17, no. 3 (2003): 243–260.

Streiner D. L. Saigal S. Burrows E. Stoskopf B. and Rosenbaum P. , “Attitudes of Parents and Health Care Professionals Toward Active Treatment of Extremely Premature Infants,” Pediatrics 108 (2001): 152–157.

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Calabresi G. , “Reflections on Medical Experimentation in Humans,” Daedalus 98 (1969): 387–393.

Cowley C. , “A New Rejection of Moral Expertise,” Medicine, Health Care, and Philosophy 8 (2005): 273–279.