The article ?Doctors: let us kill disabled babies’ (Sunday Times, 5 November 2006) reveals the concerns of the medical, scientific and lay communities regarding the survival of severely premature newborns.
The RCOG is sympathetic to the suffering of premature babies and made every attempt to understand the dilemmas relating to both the short and long-term consequences of living with irreversible and severe disability in its submission to the Nuffield Council’s consultation The ethics of prolonging life in fetuses and the newborn in July 2005 . The RCOG is pleased that these very complex and difficult issues will now be debated.
This document is available to view in the public domain here. In the response to the Nuffield Council, the RCOG ensured that all issues were discussed to ensure a balanced viewpoint.
Ultimately, the welfare of all mothers and babies requiring care because of premature birth or delivery is of paramount concern to the RCOG and all neonatal colleagues.
The views that have been expressed in the Sunday Times are not conclusive but point to the wider debate and must be considered in the context presented. The RCOG and its members are committed to the wellbeing of mothers and their newborns and strive to help all premature babies with a good prospect of survival.