Many Parents are Dealing with Impossible Situations

When her water broke at 22 weeks, Fatima Goines was told by doctors to prepare for the death of her premature daughter. She was delivering at the Methodist hospital in Minneapolis. There, Goines’ doctors told her that once her baby was born, she could hold her until she died.

Despite being just past the crucial 20 week mark of her pregnancy, Fatima refused to give up. At the recommendation of a friend, she checked herself out of the Methodist hospital. She instead went to the Children’s hospital just seven miles away. When her daughter was born shortly after, hospital staff immediately intubated the baby. They gave the baby the support she needed until she was able to breathe on her own.

Four years later, Me’Lonii is an active, alert 4-year-old who has passed all developmental milestones for her age. Fatima has commented that her daughter has, and continues to do, remarkably well.

Saving Premature Babies is More Likely than Ever

We live in a time where medical science saves lives in even the most dire of conditions. Our advancements in science and medical technology allow us to now cure or manage ailments that could have been death sentences little more than a decade ago. Yet even with these modern blessings. many hospitals are refusing to do their duty to the most vulnerable – saving premature babies.

Recently, Dr. John Oertle shared his views on the current state of preterm viability and how hospitals are treating it. You can read his entire outlook in his recent National Review article here.

Dr Oertle argued that hospitals use an assessment of fetal “viability” to withhold care. Fatima Goines and her daughter experienced this coldhearted calculation firsthand. But many more are facing this tragic situation with devastating outcomes. “In these cases, determinations about “viability” and recommended treatment options are based more on this discriminatory view of vulnerable patients than the medical research indicating intervention is appropriate,” Dr. Oertle explained.

Beyond Just Saving Premature Babies – New Interventions Lay the Foundation for Long-Term Health

Dr. Oertle explained further. “From the widespread use of surfactant therapy to improved ventilators and respiratory management, infection-prevention strategies, and enhanced nutritional support, these interventions not only mitigate the immediate challenges associated with preterm birth but also lay the foundation for long-term health and development.” He also explained that Antenatal Steroids reduce the risk of infant death and decrease potential health complications for the child later in life. ANS can also improve the survivability rates for children born even on the edge of viability, around 21 weeks.

We Have a Moral Duty to Provide Life Saving Care

While it is not always possible to determine a baby’s outcome or other possible disabilities, Dr. Oertle reminds us that it is discriminatory to assume viability in a child as every child deserves that best chance at success possible in life. For mothers like Fatima Goines, an unwillingness to accept inaction can literally mean the difference between life and death. She showed us exactly the type of advocacy that we need to have to start saving premature babies.

“All babies deserve equal access to the available medical resources along with our best efforts at saving them. A pro-abortion agenda which has long infected the culture should never trump the latest and best medical research and technology or be allowed to determine who should receive care.”