Human experimentation in perinatology

Perinatal medicine is developing at an amazingly rapid pace. The brilliant record has been marred by recurrent tragedies following the general use of well-meaning, but poorly evaluated, therapeutic regimens for newborn infants and pregnant women. There is a clear and present need for increased public clamor demanding carefully designed, risk-limiting human experiments (randomized clinical trials) to provide interpretable evidence of benefit and risks of innovations before these are adopted as desirable medical and social policy.