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The essays in this volume, with the exception of Gary Ferngren's, derive from ancestral versions originally presented at a symposium, 'Conflicts with Newborns: Saving Lives, Scarce Resources, and Euthanasia: held May 10-12,1984, at the Mercer University School of Medicine, Macon, Georgia. We wish to express our gratitude to the Georgia Endowment for the Humanities for a generous grant for the symposium and to Mercer University and the Medical Center of Central Georgia for additional financial support. The vit:ws expressed in this volume do not necessarily represent those of the Georgia Endowment for the Humani ties, Mercer University, or the Medical Center of Central Georgia. We have endeavored to bring together a group of individuals with contrast ing viewpoints to display some of the range of approaches to a major problem in public policy: medical decisions regarding the treatment of defective newborns. So many persons contributed to the symposium that acknowledg ment of each would be impossible. Although unnamed, we express our sincere appreciation to each. Three individuals, however, must be recognized: R. Kirby Godsey, President, Mercer University; William P. Bristol, Dean, Mercer University School of Medicine; and Kenneth C. Henderson, Medical Director and Director of Medical Education, Medical Center of Central Georgia. Without their support, the symposium could not have succeeded and this volume would not have been possible. We wish also to express our gratitude to S. G. M.
List of contents
Section I: Western Antecedents and Defective Neonates.- Medicine and the Birth of Defective Children: Approaches of the Ancient World.- The Imago Dei and the Sanctity of Life: The Origins of an Idea.- The Status of Defective Newborns from Late Antiquity to the Reformation.- Danville's Siamese Twins: Religio-Moral Perspectives on the Care of Defective Newborns.- Infanticide in a Post-Christian Age.- Section II: Treatment of Neonates: Regulation, Legislation, and the Rights of Parents.- Federal and State Regulation of Neonatal Decision-Making.- When Does Treatment Constitute A Harm?.- Unfollowable Law: Reflections on the Essays of Nancy M. P. King and Margery W. Shaw.- Section III: Toward Rational Public Policy in the Care of Seriously ILL Newborns.- If Euthanasia Were Licit, Could Lives Be Saved?.- High Technology, High Costs, and the Very Low Birth-Weight Newborn.- Public Policy and Life and Death Decisions Regarding Defective Newborns.- Section IV: Religious and Moral Admonitions in the Care of Defective Newborns.- Choosing Among Evils.- Moral Arguments For and Against Maximally Treating the Defective Newborn.- Ancient Admonitions and the Sanctity of Personhood.- Section V: Decisions in the Presence of Tragedy.- Moral Communities and Tragic Choices.- Mary Ann Gardell and H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jr. / The Baby Doe Controversy: An Outline of Some Points in Its Development.- Hans-Martin Sass / Medical Self-Regulation of Baby Doe Cases in the Federal Republic of Germany.- Notes on Contributors.
