Choose one of the following case studies, read the rubric for this assignment. You then will answer the accompanying questions to your ONE chosen case study and post your answer-viewpoints to the discussion board. Also please respond to at least one of your classmates posts within the first 24hrs of the assignment due date to encourage discussion.
Who should decide when a treatment should be withheld or withdrawn? Ideally, decisions are made by the parents, providers, and nurses working together, but what is to be done when they disagree? On what basis should decisions be made? Ideally, a careful ethical analysis is carried out, based on solid clinical and prognostic data and the values of those involved in making the decision. In reality, data are often very vague and values are often not shared in common, but a decision must nevertheless be reached.
Such critical ethical decisions may be more common in the NICU than in other pediatric settings, but they are certainly not unique to the NICU. Nonetheless, is there something unique about ethical problems encountered with this patient population?
For example, is borderline viability based on extreme prematurity a unique situation in pediatrics, or is it analogous to other problems sometimes encountered in the care of older children? Are clinicians more willing to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment for this patient population than for others in pediatrics or adult medicine? If so, is this justified?
