How much weight should we give to parental interests in decisions about life support for newborn infants?
Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026
Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
Published on: January 7, 2020
1The Ethox Centre, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, The University of Oxford. dominic.wilkinson@ethox.ox.ac.uk
Insights
Decisions on withdrawing life-sustaining treatment for critically ill newborns should consider parental interests alongside the infant
Area of Science:
- Medical Ethics
- Neonatal Care
- Pediatric Neurology
Background:
- Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment from critically ill newborns is common.
- Current guidelines prioritize the infant's best interests.
- Parental views and interests are often considered in practice.
Purpose of the Study:
- To argue for incorporating parental interests into treatment decisions for critically ill newborns.
- To explore the intersection of infant and parental interests.
- To examine the unique considerations for newborns versus older children.
Main Methods:
- Ethical analysis drawing on case examples (e.g., spinal muscular atrophy).
- Examination of the interconnectedness of infant and parental interests.
- Evaluation of the infant's reduced future interests due to developmental immaturity.
Main Results:
- Parental interests should be weighed in treatment decisions for newborns.
- Parental interests warrant greater consideration in newborns than older children.
- Infant and parental interests are often inseparable and influence each other.
Conclusions:
- Parental welfare interests can outweigh infant interests in specific situations.
- Treatment limitation is justifiable only in cases of severe impairment.
- Ethical frameworks must balance infant best interests with parental welfare.
Abstract:
Life-sustaining treatment is sometimes withdrawn or withheld from critically ill newborn infants with poor prognosis. Guidelines relating to such decisions place emphasis on the best interests of the infant. However, in practice, parental views and parental interests are often taken into consideration. In this paper I draw on the example of newborn infants with severe muscle weakness (for example spinal muscular atrophy). I provide two arguments that parental interests should be given some weight in decisions about treatment, and that they should be given somewhat more weight in decisions about newborns than for older children. Firstly, the interests of the infant and of parents intersect, and are hard to separate. Parents' views about treatment may be relevant to an assessment of the infant's interests, and they may also affect those interests. Secondly, the interests of the infant in her future are relatively reduced by her developmental immaturity. In some situations parents' welfare interests outweigh those of the infant. However, I argue that this would not justify treatment limitation except in the setting of severe impairment.
More Related Videos
07:27How to Administer Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Critically ill Neonates, Infants, and Children
Published on: August 19, 2020
05:04A Common Marmoset Model of Mother-Infant Intervention for Breastfeeding Disorders in the Presence of Paternal Inhibition and Maternal Neglect
Published on: September 22, 2023
Related Concept Videos
01:27Ethical Issues
Ethical Concerns in Healthcare:
00:55Parental Care
01:17Ethical Dilemmas I
Let us explore some examples to understand the potentially complex moral decisions nurses face.
Take the case of caring for minors, particularly in areas related to reproductive...
01:19Standards of Care II
01:30Ethical Dilemmas II
01:23Influence of Parents and Peers on Identity
Parental Influence on Identity Development
Parents serve as primary guides and managers in an adolescent's life, offering support instrumental in decision-making and personal growth. This guiding role...