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Legal Aspects of End-of-Life Decisions in Neonatology

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Legal and Forensic Medicine

Abstract

Due to the advances in medical science and technology, it has become possible to save the lives of severely ill newborn children through medical care and to treat them successfully in order to sustain an acceptable quality of life. Some newborns, however, are destined not to benefit from these improvements in medicine. For medical professionals who provide health care to these infants, dilemmas often arise as to whether to start or to withdraw medical treatment or to apply appropriate medication regimes. In exceptional cases, the medical condition of a neonate even gives rise to the question of deliberate ending of the child’s life.

This chapter provides an overview of the legal aspects of end-of-life decisions in neonatal health care. After discussing basic notions concerning these decisions and elucidating the relevance of the human right perspective and regulations on issuing death certificates, several national medical guidelines are clarified. A selection of national jurisprudence shows how conflicts regarding non-treatment decisions and performing medical neonaticide are examined in a court of law. Reflections on the use of quality-of-life considerations and the permissibility of future suffering, as an element of an infant’s “hopeless and unbearable suffering,” conclude this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Health Law, University of Groningen, 716, Groningen, The Netherlands

    Dr. Jozef H. H. M. Dorscheidt LL.M., Ph.D. (Faculty of Law)

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  1. Dr. Jozef H. H. M. Dorscheidt LL.M., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Jozef H. H. M. Dorscheidt LL.M., Ph.D. .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia

    Roy G. Beran

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Dorscheidt, J.H.H.M. (2013). Legal Aspects of End-of-Life Decisions in Neonatology. In: Beran, R. (eds) Legal and Forensic Medicine. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-32338-6_75

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