"The statistics don't matter, until they happen to you."

zarq — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 19:53:15 -0800

"Premature babies born at the edge of viability force us to debate the most difficult questions in medicine and in life. After just 23 weeks of pregnancy, Kelley Benham found herself in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) with a daughter born so early neonatologist doctors would call her a "micro preemie." New technologies can sometimes keep micro preemies alive, but many end up disabled, some catastrophically so. Whether to provide care to these infants is one of the fundamental controversies in neonatology. This is the story of how Benham and her husband, Tom French, made the difficult choice: Fight for the life of their micro preemie baby or let her go?" This is the first article in a three part "Special Report" series. The next installments will be published on Tuesday and next Friday. The paper has set up a special section with additional links, resources, an infographic, photos and video. Additional Reading Time Magazine / 2011: A 21-Week-Old Baby Survives and Doctors Ask, How Young is Too Young to Save? and Why Delaying Delivery by Just Two Weeks Boosts Baby’s Survival New York Times / 2012: In Preemies, Better Care Also Means Hard Choice Preemie Help: Facts and Figures: Preemie Outcomes by Gestational Age

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