Doctors often have to question
themselves with “Have I done enough?” However, now doctors are questioning
themselves with “Have we done too much?” Over the past few decades advancement
in the care of premature neonates has improved drastically. Doctors understand
more now than they ever have before about the development and growth of babies.
This advancement allows doctors to save premature babies up to only 22 weeks
into the gestational period. That is only 2 weeks longer than what would be
half of the typical gestational period of 40 weeks. Although the possibility of
saving these extremely premature infants is possible, doctors have begun to
question the ethics behind saving these children when typically they develop
many handicaps and a poor quality of life.
Babies born prematurely are
extremely underweight, there skin is very thin and they are predisposed to infection,
their lungs are not developed and they have breathing issues, their eyes are
not developed and leave them blind, the chances of a brain bleed are high due
to the lack of blood vessel development, and their intestines cannot sustain
nutrients for they are also not developed. Physicians have developed ways to
combat the lack of the development but long term solutions are still in need.
Amongst all of these problems trying to only stay alive, extremely premature
babies can be forced to stay in the hospital for months if not a year in the
hospital trying to develop enough to survive and combat the outside environment.
Even if the doctors can keep them alive during infancy, many of these children
do not make it far into childhood. It is not that doctors want to say, “What’s
the point if they are only going to live a few years?” but when thinking of the
suffering and pain of the baby and their parents—as well as the extreme risks it
will cost them, doctors must think holistically about the patient and families in
these difficult situations.
It makes everything much harder
when babies are involved in anything that could harm them. Doctors fight for
children’s lives on a completely different levels than adults because children
have their whole lives ahead of them. The doctors reasoning is not wrong but
they have to take into consideration of the financial hardships that are to
come. Not only are the hospital bills from saving premature babies lives
extremely expensive, especially depending on the extent of the stay, but the
after care costs have to be thought of as well. The medication, special diets,
and equipment are necessary for the survival of these infants after leaving the
hospital but most parents in America cannot afford them. The inability to
harness the supplies causes the child’s health to suffer and leads to fatality.
The quality of life in these situations really way on the minds of doctors and
the question of “Would it have been better if they had just passed? That way
they wouldn’t have all of this pain and suffering?”
Times Magazine has recently written
an article looking into the views of parents and doctors and the miracle of
saving the lives of extremely premature infants. Advancements are slowly
starting to not only keep babies alive, but also it has started to help them
thrive. Parents are always grateful that their children are alive and they can
spend more time with them than they originally thought but it does way on their
minds that their children are so sick. Scientists in the medical field are pleased
with the swiftness of advancement in the field of premature infants but the
time currently happening between the shifting of advancement is weighing on the
consciences of physicians and medical staff.
This essay is not strictly to say
that I prefer one way of thinking on this topic over another but to just inform
other individuals of the thoughts and circumstances of which are incorporated into
the medical field when dealing with premature neonates. I would like for this
essay to be thought provoking and truly have people question themselves and
their beliefs on this matter.
Hope more scientific advancement can be made, so that there is less such things.
ReplyDeletepropyl c3 beads