Is it wrong to save them? In the rapidly advancing field of neonatology, doctors have found miraculous ways to save even the tiniest of newborns. Many worry that the implications could be graver than they seem.
Debate over care for tiniest babies
Is it wrong to save them? In the rapidly advancing field of neonatology, doctors have found miraculous ways to save even the tiniest of newborns. Many worry that the implications could be graver than they seem.
Four weeks after conception a human embryo is about the size of a full stop. By week eight it is the size of a raisin, with a heartbeat and minuscule feet. By week nine it has toes and by week 12 it has fingernails.
By week 16 a foetus can move and grow tiny hairs. By week 21 it has eyebrows and eyelashes. It finally resembles a tiny human.
At 22 weeks a baby is around the size of a sweet potato. Its lungs and kidneys are still developing. Its immune system is still fragile. And for most of history babies born at 22 weeks - known as extremely premature - had no chance of survival outside the uterus.
Now, everything has changed. A baby born at 22 weeks has a chance of life, with some doctors saying as many as one third could survive where treatment is available.
However, many of the extremely premature babies saved today will develop long-term health problems, with as many as a quarter suffering from a "severe disability".1
There is no predicting how any individual baby will fare with treatment. Extremely premature babies have a very thin outer layer of skin that can bruise or break in response to the gentlest touch. Their immune system is underdeveloped and they succumb easily to infections.
They may be in unspeakable pain, and in order to save their lives doctors might be prolonging this pain.
It cuts to the centre of one of humanity's greatest and most difficult questions: how much is it worth to save a human life?
Extremely premature babies need around-the-clock care. The pressures are immense and survival is against the odds.
But some say that we have a moral obligation to do all we can to preserve each and every soul. As writer George Bernard Shaw said: "Life itself is the miracle of miracles."
Is it wrong to save them?
Yes: Just think of how much pain these tiny, helpless newborns are being subjected to, sometimes for months on end. Think of the grief and uncertainty of their parents. And after all of that, the odds of survival still remain slim.
No: We are not human if we do not do all we can to save a life. It is less a medical question than a philosophical one. That the vast majority of parents opt to actively treat their extremely premature babies shows that it is the only correct choice.
Or... The field cannot develop if we do not allow doctors to treat patients and refine their techniques. Perhaps now only one third of extremely premature newborns survive, but with time and experience treatments will develop and the odds will be better.
Debate over care for tiniest babies
