NHS chief: Babies born at 23 weeks should be left to die
A leading NHS consultant has said that babies born up to 23 weeks should not be resuscitated.
Dr Daphne Austin, Consultant in Public Health Medicine for West Midlands Specialised Commissioning team, believes it is too expensive to do so.
But Dr Mike Griffith, whose eleven-year-old daughter was born at 23 weeks, has likened Dr Austin’s idea to euthanasia.
Guidelines
NHS guidelines state that doctors should routinely give intensive care to babies born between 22 and 25 weeks.
But Dr Austin believes that the low rate of survival and the high cost to the NHS should lead doctors to allow babies born at 23 weeks to die.
“If it was my child, from all the evidence and information that I know,” said Dr Austin, “I would not resuscitate”.
‘More harm than good’
In England, Scotland and Wales, abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Most children born at 23 weeks do not survive. Of those that do, the majority will be disabled in some way.
Dr Austin believes that, because of this, doctors are “doing more harm than good” in saving these children.
But Dr Mike Griffith, a top consultant cardiologist from University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust, disagrees with her philosophy.
‘Political statement’
“Not to save a life because somebody is disabled is a political statement of euthanasia that isn’t really acceptable in the general mores of our society”, he said.
“We’re not keen to put people to sleep just because they’re disabled, which is essentially what we would be doing.”
He went on to argue that babies born at 23 weeks, like his daughter, “should be given every chance.”
Specialised treatment
When Mike and Ursula Griffith’s daughter Molly was born eleven years ago, she was not expected to survive more than a few hours.
However, thanks to highly specialised treatment, she gradually grew stronger and, despite having some ongoing disabilities, today leads an energetic life, similar to her contemporaries.
“Her chances of survival that first night were tiny”, her father said, “but she survived, and she carried on surviving by the skin of her teeth.”
Money
But Dr Austin does not believe that resuscitating children like Molly is worthwhile and she made clear the basis of her resistance to such potentially life-saving procedures:
“For me the big issue is that we’re spending an awful lot of money on treatments that have very marginal benefit”, she said.
“I would prefer to free up that money to spend on providing support to people who have much more lifelong chronic conditions.”
Funding
Dr Austin’s team is responsible for advising on funding and spending issues for a range of NHS treatments and care in the West Midlands.
She said that the issue of resuscitation of premature babies should be looked at “in the same way as we’ve made hard decisions about things like cancer drugs”.
She concluded that “the outcomes just aren’t good enough.”
‘Parents’ views’
“There’s a lot of emphasis on the parents’ views and what they want”, she said.
“But somewhere in there, there needs to be an advocate for the baby.”
”If I came out and said, ‘I’m going to stop resuscitating babies below 24 weeks’”, she said, “there would be a witch hunt.”
Miracle
Last month, a baby born at 23 weeks and believed to have been the smallest baby born in Britain last year, celebrated her first birthday.
Weighing just 13 ounces and smaller than a child’s doll, baby Willow Ludden-Brooks fought to overcome her slim chance of survival.
But at a happy 10lb 8oz she celebrated her first birthday with her overjoyed family.
Dr Austin makes the remarks in a BBC2 documentary, 23 Week Babies: The Price of Life, due to be screened on Wednesday this week at 9pm.