[Legal limits in the treatment of severely handicapped newborn infants?]

For the determination of legal limits in the care of seriously impaired newborns no real or presumed decisions of the patient are at hand. An autonomy of the patient (such as informed consent/refusal) does not exist nor do individual signs that would allow assumptions about the newborn's will. Also, decisions of the legal guardians are not binding if they are directed against the child's interests. Judgements based on arguments that consider social and psychological facts must be rejected as well as considerations about the rightfulness of an abortion on eugenic grounds. Solely general legal principles and norms can serve as a guideline for the determination of such limits: "life" as the most precious value guaranteed by constitution, the ban of the killing of any human being as a criminal act, the physicians general objectives that are based on professional ethics and affect law. From this can be deducted: Any obligation of the physician ends with the cerebral death of the patient. The obligation to prolong life ceases with: irreversible coma, or if necessary operations would result in such coma, or if life that befits a human being can never be secured without the help of mechanical ventilation, or if survival would constantly require new serious operations, or if imminent death could only be postponed for a short period of time.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)