Imperilled newborns

by Thierry Hurlimann

This text is a timely and much needed examination of the nature of the ethical and legal issues generated by the dramatic improvement of neonatal intensive care. Which newborns that are preterm, very low birth weight or very malformed are so imperilled that medical treatment should not be provided? Thierry Hurlimann advocates that an appropriate attempt to answer this question can only be achieved by first considering the concepts of legal and moral “personhood”. Such concepts challenge and confront the foundations of traditional thought and human perception. In Imperilled Newborns: A Duty To Treat?, T. Hurlimann examines the ethical and legal theories that help inform a broad understanding of “personhood” within a complex matrix of societal, political, legal and ethical considerations. It is this background that impacts so greatly on the legal and moral status of imperilled neonates. In so doing, he draws upon numerous judicial and legislative examples notably from Canada, Quebec, the