Resumen

BORQUEZ E, Gladys; ANGUITA M, Verónica  y  BERNIER V, Lionel. Bio-ethical considerations in the decision to withhold or withdraw life sustaining treatments. Rev. chil. pediatr. [online]. 2004, vol.75, n.2, pp. 181-187. ISSN 0370-4106.  doi: 10.4067/S0370-41062004000200013.

This article highlights some of the ethical questions about a very-low birthweight baby born at 25 weeks. She needed all the health care and technological support of the intensive care unit to maintain her life. We re-examine the fundamental questions of medical decision making, the responsibility of the parents to serve the best interests of their child, especially about unproven risks and benefits of medical care. Definitions in this context are critical, the choices of how to categorize patients, therapeutic choices involving normative and operative judgements determine whether or not a new life should continue. We discuss the ethical limits in the decision making

Palabras clave : new-born; premature; limits of therapeutic treatment; ethics.