Citation

Weil WB. Hastings Cent. Rep. 1986; 16(2): 12-13.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Institute of Society, Ethics and the Life Sciences)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

3700073

Abstract

Weil, chairman of the Bioethics Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics, maintains that many changes that are occuring in the medical care of newborns and infants are not mandated by the Child Abuse and Neglect Amendments of 1984 or by the Department of Health and Human Services' April 1985 final rule regarding the Act, but are derived from social forces that have increased public awareness of the interests of the disabled. Other changes will result from state regulations required by the federal action. The author considers the "Baby Doe" rules to be guidelines, not requiring specific acts or decisions and subject to broad interpretation. The intent of the federal and state regulations is to safeguard infants in rare life-and-death situations where parents and physicians undervalue the interests of the child and the hospital ethics committee cannot resolve the issue.

Language: en