Question

A baby is born with anencephaly, or absence of the entire brain above the brainstem. The brainstem is intact, which means that the baby can breathe and have a heart beat and blood pressure, but there is no chance for any human brain function or cognition, due to this birth defect. The health care team begins to educate the mother, since children with this deficit generally die shortly after birth. However, the mother is devoutly religious, and her minister has told her that if she prays hard enough to God, that God will work a miracle and her baby's brain will heal itself. She is insistent that all possible care be given to her baby, including a months-long stay in the ICU, constant care by a caregiver, regular brain scans, and other expensive modalities. The hospital, finding her adamant, asks the court for guardianship of the baby, with the medical plan to provide only maintenance care with no life-prolonging techniques until the baby dies. What are the ethical issues at play here? How do the principles of autonomy, beneficence, nonmalfeasance, and justice manifest themselves? If you were called as an ethical consultant, what would you do/recommend?

Answer 1

Anencephaly severly limits the life span of O affected infants, it is a neural tube defect While there is no higher brain function in the child suffering from Anencephaly but they are still persons and they should be treated equal to normal infants · Anencephaly not only affects the infanct but also their family. This disease affects both physical, emotional and spiritual needs. It is very difficult for mother of the infants to know her child has limited lifespan but only devotion to god will not make the child better and without treatment the condition of the infant will decrease and causes many problems. There is no cure for this praying to good will not miraculously save the infant Ethical issue include providing patient rights and maintaining good care to the patients Some may think they are humans and not persons because they does not have concious. But it is absword because if one is unconscious autonomy

it does not mean they are persons they should I be cared no matter if they are consious or responsive. They should be treated and supported personally and professionally. They should be compassionate towards the baby and the mother but the baby should be their priority | The infant mother should be educated well on the infont situation and they should maintain cane. Organ donation is a divine thing which saves some others lifen When child deat' is in difficult condition nurses and doctors may make the process easy. 1 . I recommend that infant should be treated well and cared and should be given care equal to that of normal child. The ichildren with anencephaly dies before 1 year and one child I lived for 4 years. Mostly females are more affected than male children. ,,