Rights of the newborn and end-of-life decisions

Abstract

Advances in perinatal medicine have dramatically improved neonatal survival. End-of-life decision making for newborns with adverse prognosis is an ethical challenge and the ethical issues are controversial. The newborn is a person with specific rights which he cannot claim, due to his physical and mental immaturity. These rights impose to the society obligations and responsibilities, which health professionals and institutions of all countries must enforce. Every newborn has the right to life with dignity. Providing compassionate family-centered end-of-life care to infants and their families in the NICU should be a mandatory component of an optimally neonatal palliative care.

Keywords:

• decision making
• ethics
• neonatal death
• neonatal intensive care
• neonatology
• newborn
• palliative care
• preterm

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.