[Bioethics, deontology, and law in neonatal intensive care]

Neonatal intensive care has greatly improved the survival chances but, at the same time, it has also given rise to serious ethical problems. Different contexts influence both physicians attitude and end-of-life practices in neonatology. The clinicians can not ever follow the principles of bioethics, as they are sometimes in conflict. Also, the strategies or guidelines proposed as approaches to neonatal decision-making are difficult to practise. Probably a neonatologist makes his decision even on the basis of his interior conviction and it is well known that in Italy the debate on bioethics is the subject of confrontation between Roman Catholic and secular viewpoint, expressing two positions: the so-called sanctity and the quality of life. However, a clinician has also an obligation to follow the Code of Professional Medical Ethics which cautions against therapeutic aggressiveness; but this document has not legal status. In addition, Italian law is strongly protective of infant life and any discrimination on the basis of malformation or poor prognosis violates constitutional law; moreover, the resuscitation of a preterm infant is mandatory even when the birth is the result of induced late abortion. The author concludes emphasizing the importance, in decision making, of accepting difference as opposed to the logic of the absoluteness of normality, because many handicaps may be accepted and a society expresses its moral richness also by the solidarity reserved to its weakest sons.