Too Premature
Is there such a phrase as “Too Premature”? If you ask some experts in the UK, then the answer is yes. A TimesOnline story reported back in November that the The Nuffield Council on Bioethics released a report titled Critical Care Decisions in Fetal and Neonatal Medicine that says:
..intensive care should not be given to babies born before 22 weeks, and that babies born between 22 and 23 weeks should not, in normal practice, be given intensive care unless parents make a specific request and doctors agree that treatment is possible and in the baby’s best interests.
If you ask Eddie and Sonja Taylor of Homestead, FL if there is such a thing as “Too Premature” then you would find that a new chapter needs to be written in this bioethics report. Their daughter Amillia was born in the fall at just under 22 weeks gestation. The exact gestation time is known because she was conceived via in vitro fertilization. Amillia was about the length of a standard ball point pen when she was born and weighed about 10 onces. You can see a picture of how small her little feet were on The Sydney Morning Herald. Now at four months of age Amillia is well over 4 pounds and will likely be going home from the hospital with little concern for her future health according to doctors at the Baptist Children’s Hospital in Miami.
God continues to show that he has a greater plan no matter what the experts say.
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:50 am
respectfully, i read that story too and think that the baby’s survival WAS the plan of the experts. I suspect God considers such human interventions in her divine system as meddling with a territory humans lack the wisdom to enter.
Moderated: The URI was removed due to broken link.
February 23rd, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Walter,
I agree that the doctors involved in the baby’s care DID intend for this child to survive. The doctors caring for baby Amillia certainly were not taking the advise of the UK study that was also mention in this post.
I don’t think God gets upset with doctors helping treat medical conditions. God obviously does not have a bias against doctors. Oddly enough a physician (Luke) wrote a very large portion of the New Testament of the Bible and you never hear in his writings of how great of works he did with his medical skills. You do read about Luke’s witness to numerous divine healings performed by Jesus and His disciples.
February 26th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Great post.
A Doctor and prayer is good.
A Doctor that prays is even better.
BDG
March 1st, 2007 at 9:20 am
[...] I read a report in the newspaper this weekend (and I need to find it and link to it) that a group is advocating that women have an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. The pro-abortion folks are all up in arms about this. Why? Because we all know that as soon as we see those tiny little arms and legs, we will realize that it truly IS a baby – not a “fetus”. Barbara Curtis wrote a blog entry about Life being Sacred and Hank has another article about the sanctity of life in his blog post titled “Too Premature“. [...]
March 2nd, 2007 at 3:14 pm
I think my trackback got deleted by akismet. But, I wholeheartedly agree with you – a life is a life – no matter at what stage! It is sacred and precious and truly a gift from God!
March 4th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Mama Grizzly,
This is my first time moderating comments and trackbacks since I left for Atlanta Wednesday night. We were in Atlanta due to my mother-in-law having surgery. There’s more on that over at Caden’s Page.
Thanks for the link and the comment. I will try to do better about moderating even when I am on the road.