Evidence-based ethics and the care and outcome of extremely premature infants.
The care of extremely premature infants involves a number of complex clinical and ethical issues. The ethical and scientific quality of decisions made in the care of these infants has profound long-term consequences for these infants and their families. In circumstances when it is unclear whether intensive care should be initiated or continued, evidence-based ethics provides an approach to facilitate treatment decisions that over time will be progressively better informed, better justified, and more broadly acceptable to parents, caregivers, and the general public.
Tyson
Jon E
JE
Center for Clinical Research and Evidence-Based Medicine, The University of Texas-Houston Medical School, 6431 Fannin Street, MSB 2.106, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
Stoll
Barbara J
BJ
D003422:Critical Care; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D006801:Humans; D007230:Infant, Low Birth Weight; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007234:Infant, Premature; D007235:Infant, Premature, Diseases / Q000628:therapy*; D007363:Intensive Care Units, Neonatal; D036302:Therapeutic Human Experimentation