By Sophie Borland and Emma Cox
Last updated at 5:03 PM on 7th March 2011
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Babies born after just 23 weeks of pregnancy or earlier should be left to die, a leading NHS official has said.
Dr Daphne Austin said that despite millions being spent on specialised treatments, very few of these children survive as their tiny bodies are too underdeveloped.
She claimed keeping them alive is only ‘prolonging their agony’, and it would be better to invest the money in care for cancer sufferers or the disabled.
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The legal limit for abortion is 24 weeks. Dr Austin said that the care given to such tiny infants should be weighed up in the same way as the NHS decides whether or not to fund treatment for dying cancer patients.
‘If it was my child, from all the evidence and information that I know, I would not resuscitate,’ she said.
Survivor: Molly Griffith, 11, pictured here with her mother Ursula, was born 17 weeks early and is healthy now (see below)
Survivor: Molly Griffith, 11, pictured here with her mother Ursula, was born 17 weeks early and is healthy now (see below)
‘We are doing more harm than good by resuscitating 23-weekers. I can’t think of very many interventions that have such poor outcomes.
‘For me the big issue is that we’re spending an awful lot of money on treatments that have very marginal benefit.
‘I would prefer to free up that money to spend on providing support to people who have much more lifelong chronic conditions.’
Dr Austin, who did her medical training in New Zealand, does not work on a neonatal unit but acts as a consultant for the West Midlands Specialised Commissioning team, advising what treatments and care should be funded in the region.
She said the issue should be looked at ‘in the same way as we’ve made hard decisions about things like cancer drugs, saying the outcomes just aren’t good enough and therefore we won’t use them’.
She added: ‘There’s a lot of emphasis on the parents’ views and what they want. But somewhere in there, there needs to be an advocate for the baby.
‘I would say it’s unique in terms of a no-go area. If I came out and said, “I’m going to stop resuscitating babies below 24 weeks”, there would be a witch hunt.’
She makes the comments in a BBC2 documentary, 23 Week Babies: The Price of Life, to be screened on Wednesday at 9pm.
A Church of England spokesman said: ‘It is difficult for parents and doctors to watch a premature baby in distress and not think they must “do something”, so there is often a temptation to try each technological intervention no matter what. So it is perfectly proper for the Church to insist on the best care for every patient in all reasonable circumstances.
‘But in situations in which those responsible struggle to find a balance between hope and realism, it is not for us to insist on specific points at which medical intervention may be appropriate.’
**When do you think this will start to happen here, in the U.S.?
