The Lazarus case: life-and-death issues in neonatal by John D. Lantos MD

By John D. Lantos MD

During this new, startlingly unique booklet, John D. Lantos weaves a compelling tale that captures the dilemmas of contemporary scientific perform. The Lazarus Case: Life-and-Death matters in Neonatal in depth Care starts with a fictional malpractice case—an amalgam of normal instances within which Lantos seemed as a professional witness—and makes use of it because the framework for addressing the moral matters surrounding neonatal extensive care. Lantos attracts on his event in neonatal drugs, pediatrics, and clinical ethics to discover a number of moral dilemmas via one poignant consultant situation.In Lantos's version case, a physician comes to a decision to forestall resuscitation of a untimely child, a tiny "preemie" who turns out prior average care. the newborn survives with critical neurological defects and the oldsters sue the health care professional, alleging that preventing remedy used to be negligent. From this example, Lantos considers our ethical responsibilities to severely in poor health infants, the that means of negligence, and the types of social constructions that form the ethical consciences of doctors.Each bankruptcy starts off with Lantos deposing within the convention room of the plaintiffs' legal professionals. The questions placed to Lantos in the course of the deposition spark an engrossing retelling of his own reports with untimely infants, in addition to his considerate discussions of ethics, morality, heritage, and scientific facts. Sprinkled through the booklet are references to fictional works through Camus, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare, Twain, and others. Lantos makes use of those literary examples to extra illustrate the ambiguities, misunderstandings, tasks, and evasions that plague our judgements relating to existence and demise, remedy and clinical schooling, and finally the fee and cost of conserving the lives of the main weak between us. (2003)