Last week The Washington Times published a story calling for the compassionate provision of perinatal palliative care for families facing the loss of a baby at or soon after birth.
In an article entitled, Compassion requires medical community to offer perinatal hospice, Samuel’s story is told to illustrate the need for palliative care to be offered as an alternative to termination of pregnancy when a mother finds out that her baby has a condition doctors describe as ‘íncompatible with life’.
Samuel was born in 1 January 2012 and lived for hours and 48 minutes. When Samuel’s parents were given the devastating news that the baby they were expecting had Trisomy 18, the only options offered to them were termination of the pregnancy or the option to ‘endure’ the pregnancy with no offer of support or assistance. Samuel’s parents, Aaron and Alisha, say that there were not asked whether they wished to learn more about Trisomy 18 or given the option to talk about what care for a child with this condition would involve. On hearing their choice not to terminate the pregnancy the couple were told that there was nothing more the doctors could do for them.
With the assistance of their own obstetrician, the couple created a birth plan that allowed them as much time as possible to hold and cherish Samuel, to look into his beautiful eyes, to share him with their friends, and to hear and record his voice. In other words, they created their own a ‘perinatal hospice’ experience.
There are only 3 states in America – Arizona, Kansas and Minnesota – that require parents receive information on perinatal hospice care. Oklahoma is considering a perinatal hospice bill this year. This bill recognises the humanity of the child and ensures that parents are not put under undue pressure to see their child as ‘expendable’.
One Day More, an Irish support group for parents who have received a difficult pre-natal diagnosis have put together a video of interviews with parents who all went through the devastating experience of receiving a distressing diagnosis about the health of their unborn child but chose to carry it to full term. The video can be viewed at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSgLYScY_mo&feature=youtu.be
The report in The Washington Times quote studies which show that offering parents information on perinatal palliative care significantly reduces the number of late term abortions and that when given the option, between 37 and 87% of parents opted for palliative care over termination of pregnancy.
The article ends with a call for all states to provide parents like Samuel’s more than an ‘abortion or nothing’ option should they find themselves in a similar heartbreaking situation.
Read the full story at: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/7/smith-make-time-for-compassion-when-a-newborn-has-/#ixzz2vemlPLfu
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