This entry was posted on Thursday, June 19th, 2008 at 12:52 am and is filed under Preemies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Thats how we read the general question being asked by this article posted on BusinessWeek. This question is being asked more and more frequently, and has become a hot topic, for obvious reasons. It doesn’t get the press that issues like abortion or gay marriage receive, simply because the overall population of parents who have premature babies is still relatively small in comparison to those with full-term children. However it is an extreme hot button for those parents who have gone through the experience of having a child in the NICU.
The core of the debate emanates from reports such as these:
Excerpt
“extending intensive care to the most immature infants would entail considerable suffering, resource use, and cost in order to benefit only a small proportion of infants.” Elderly patients who are subjected to painful, drawn-out hospital procedures can urge doctors not to take further drastic measures; preemies who suffer through heroic interventions have no such voice.
The issue is more complicated than simply taking a side. As in many great political debates the real issue stems from one side being overly analytical and mechanical, while the opposition behaves emotionally and oftentimes irrationally. Lina Moreco, the Montreal filmmaker who created Medicine Under the Influence, a 76-minute documentary on this very topic, is an example of the former.
“Many of those children would not have survived 30 or even 20 years ago. Now they do, with often terrible consequences,” Moreco states. “It doesn’t make sense that we, as a society, spend $250,000 to save a baby born after only 22 weeks, but spend next to nothing to provide the treatment and therapies they need to live with their handicaps. It’s scandalous.” Note that this film was release in 2004, the cost of NICU care of a 22 weeker can now often exceed $1 million.
Whether you have a preemie or not, it is easy to see why this type of cold, fact-based logic ignites such passion among parents of pre-term children. As anyone who has watched the amazingly heart-wrenching and touching film, “Little Man” can attest, there are times when even the most dedicated parent of preemies, particularly ones unfortunate enough to possess serious birth defects and lifelong health issues, can waiver and question their own decision to put their families, relationships, health and financial security behind the life of a child who’s very survival is uncertain.
For us, it was practically a non-issue. We have been blessed with a preemie who, at three-years-old, has no evidence of the health-related issues she once faced. Although her period in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was extremely difficult for us, there was never any shred of doubt in our minds about whether or not we wanted her to survive.
For others, however, it is not so simple. In fact, the great preemie debate is really a continuation of the abortion issue. Only the individuals personally involved in the situation truly understand the implications of their decision. Is it right to deny resuscitation to a child based on the possibility that its life may be complicated, expensive, cruel and laden with hardship?
In our opinion, the parents, and only the parents, can make that decision.
Matt and Aline
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June 19th, 2008 at 3:28 am
I agree with you.
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June 19th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Wow, powerful post. I completely agree with what you say.
BTW, I recently watched Little Man. I thought it would be a happy story about a preemie’s ultimately triumphant journey through the NICU. Boy, was I wrong. It was a heart breaking story.
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June 20th, 2008 at 12:46 am
I agree with you! This was a great post.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! I appreciate your kind words. My daughter didn’t get her hair cut until she was 3….but hubby gave me strict orders that I could not wait that long to get little man’s hair cut
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June 20th, 2008 at 1:17 am
Great post! I haven’t read one like this on a blog before!
In my opinion I think every single baby has the right to live. 
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June 20th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
Thanks for stopping by.
Nice to meet you.
Power post.
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June 20th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
totally agree
and can i just say how much i love your header? seriously – those eyes!! simply beautiful!
happy pow!
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June 21st, 2008 at 1:40 am
Terrific post – I agree with you totally. A baby always deserves every shot at life. Great blog, I’m glad I stopped by – happy POW!
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June 21st, 2008 at 5:15 am
What a great post – thanks for sharing your perspective. Glad to hear your daughter is thriving!
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June 21st, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I completely agree, being a parent of a 32 week preemie. The amazing things that they can do for premature children is a blessing.
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June 22nd, 2008 at 1:22 am
As a very proud aunt of a former 25 weeker who is now a bright, giggly, happy, healthy 2 year old….I couldn’t agree more with you!!!
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June 22nd, 2008 at 3:18 am
Great post Matt. My wife and I have discussions around this theme or topic often as she is a nurse in a NICU (and a very good one I might add).
She never shares names of patients or families but when I ask about her day it is often grueling to listen to. Grueling from the perspective of the suffering many of the kids go through and the lengths the nurses go to to keep the children from enduring more hardship as well as the obvious impact on the families.
I don’t know that I have much to add to this conversation, though it stirs a lot of emotion, other than to say I agree. Any decision belongs to the parents.
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June 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Wonderfully written.
My two best friends have both had preemie babies (one born at 24 weeks, one at 27 weeks) and I have a cousin born at 28 weeks who spent 12 months in hospital. I cannot understand how Business Week could break down the life and death of an infant into dollar terms. It just doesn’t work like that.
All 3 babies are now home and thriving and I don’t think their parents would regret one iota of time and money spent in getting them to this point.
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June 23rd, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Great Post. I don’t have first hand experience with having a preemie (I adopted my son at 6 mo from LA County) but how can it really come down to $ when there is a heart involved? I mean really …
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December 29th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
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