Baby born at 16 weeks turned away

[burstingbug]

It's just been on the Wright Stuff

I know it probably wouldn't have survived but surely every baby has the right to be given a chance. Very sad

but what does that mean, paulaplumpbottom? that it's last precious few minutes on earth should be spent having tubes stuck down its tiny throat? how is that suffering going to benefit anyone?

At 16 weeks? C'mon, there's no chance at that age .

I think there is so little detail in the story that no one can say what really happened. I doubt it is an accurate reflection of events tbh.

Someone did make a comment about whether the dates might have been wrong and that was how the baby survived so long. That is what really really worried me about any prescriptive limits on treatment for premature babies.

Not too long ago a baby wouldn't have been given a chance at 21 weeks. Now they have a good chance. They are pushing back those boundarys all the time.

How the baby spends its last few moments should be left up to its mother.

do premature babies really have a good chance at 21 weeks? i'd love to see the stats on that.

Its a good enough chance that they'll try to save its life. More and more are surviving at that age.

why? the child has rights does it not? dying in distress vs a calm slipping away because you're here too, too early... i know what i'd prefer.

and much as a tearful parent may wish for something different, that child would have dies, you recognise that yourself.

like twimkle says, there's not enough detail to know what really happened but i personally believe that a dignified few minutes on earth are sometimes worth more than an hour or so of suffering.

x-posted. your last two points seem to contradict each other. i too believe if the child had a chance they'd have tried. the child didn't, so they didn't.

I think the earliest a baby has ever been saved is 22 plus weeks.

I would agree with you. Its what I would choose if it were my baby but this wasn't my baby. I would be curious to know how long the baby lived after.

I think its at 21.

pula, though, without unnecessarily dragging up stuff from other threads... aren't you pro-life? so don't the rights of the mother have to come second to the rights of the child, particularly now that the child is born?

Paula -I'm off to google this

21 is very different to 16 weeks imo.

I saw this the other day - was the hospital in question Queen Charlotte's?

You are right I am pro-life. The babys rights do come first. I don't know what the right thing to do here is but an argument could be made for both, which is probably why my post contradict.On the one hand the baby might die not in the arms of its mother but on a table surrounded by doctors and thats really awful. However if there was even the tiniest of chances that it could live shouldn't that be fought for? I can see both sides

I agree 16 weeks and 21 weeks are completley diffrent things.

this makes interesting reading:

'Figures suggest that no baby survives at 21 weeks, while only 1% survive to leave hospital at 22 weeks.'

link here:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/6149464.stm

Why wouldn't they save the lives of all the babys born at 22 weeks. They obviously have a chance as some have survived. I don't understand that mentality.

because Paula, the line has to be drawn somewhere, taking into account the potentiall suffering of the baby, chance of success, and of course money

The line in Holland has been drawn at 25 weeks iirc. I'm off to find a link confirming that.

Why? Why does there have to be a line drawn? This is a little life here. If they don't keep pushing the boundrys how will there ever be advances?

Why? Why does there have to be a line drawn? This is a little life here. If they don't keep pushing the boundrys how will there ever be advances?

16 weeks is just too young. I can't imagine any hospital even ha any equipment to deal with a baby born just 5 inches long, and weighing so little.

If the article is to be believed and what it implies is correct then I agree that the family may well have been badly treatedm and should have had a more sympathetic welcome at the hospital. Even if the hospital couldn't help the baby - and what help really could there have been? - a private room, an off shot, to hold their baby and say goodbye.

I don't think ramming tubes and needles in the poor wee thing would have helped, just caused more distress.