Pregnancy

Parents Devastated After Hospital Denies Their 23 Week Baby Medical Intervention

A UK couple, who tried for 5 years to have a baby, has been left devastated after hospital staff refused to give their premature baby medical intervention – because she was born one week too early.

Latisha and Robert Brown, of Attleborough, Norfolk in the United Kingdom received the distressing news after arriving at the hospital with their premature newborn daughter Alexis. Alexis was born at home at just twenty-three weeks gestation, but was alive, active, and breathing on her own when she arrived at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital last week. Despite the broken-hearted mother’s pleas for help, the midwife on duty informed the new parents that medical treatment was not an option. Baby Alexis passed away two hours later, with no medical intervention to try to save her life.

The United Kingdom’s policy on premature infants has been in the news quite a bit over the last year. According to the guidelines, any infant born before twenty-four weeks gestation should not be resuscitated. Alexis was one week shy of a chance at life. The hospital’s official response was simply “There was no question of survival for such a premature baby.”

Born Too Early:  Meet 23 Weeker Amelia Pearl Perhaps the hospital and governing body should read the hundreds of stories on our site of micro-preemies that have beat the odds, and give revision of these “guidelines” some serious thought. Baby Alexis was just over a pound at birth, the same weight as Toledo baby Aydan Lahman, 2 ounces more than Berselia Hernandez Chavarri, and seven ounces more than Amillia Taylor. All of these babies, and countless others born before twenty-four weeks gestation, have survived. Little Alexis was not even given a chance. – Jill, Staff Writer

Related Articles:

SOURCE


About the author

Jill

Jill is a mother of four. She attends the University of West Georgia where she is pursuing her dream of becoming a Certified Nurse Midwife

5 Comments

  • My heart breaks for this family!! I think that each childs condition should be evaluated before a decision is made.

  • This is why letting a government body set the standards for medical care should be unacceptable to everyone. At some point even the preemies who are older may come under the gun when the budget has a strain in it.

    More will be denied care, and it will get worse.

  • every baby deserves a chance! My little 1pound 1oz 22 weeker Josie is a thriving 10 month and the little baby here could be too if she had medical help!

  • Shocking!! The fact that she was breathing on her own when they got to the hospital says something surely?? So this poor baby was left to die naturally, what difference is a week? The whole thing is wrong imo if a baby has been born and is breathing then it is a human being who deserves to and has the right to live and to be given a chance with medical help! And then you have people with illnesses such as MS and have machines helping them breath and tubes into their stomach keeping them alive who are in agony, they have no quality of life whatsoever and all they want is assistance to die with dignity and in peace but the law says no… this country is all wrong if you ask me.. god bless that little baby x

Leave a Comment

Send this to a friend