Is continuation of life support always the best option for neonates with congenital anatomical anomalies?

Current status of negative treatment decision-making for fetuses with a prenatal diagnosis of neonatal surgical disease at a single Japanese institution

“…However, both treatments are invasive to the maternal body, and it is therefore necessary to comprehensively determine the treatment policies by considering the advantages for the fetus and the disadvantages for the maternal body [23]. Because each situation differs individually, there is no other solution than for the parents and medical professionals to discuss what is in the best interest of the fetus in each case [24].…”

End-of-life decision before and after birth: changing ethical considerations

“…In Europe, in the field of pediatric surgery, only the Netherlands has been looking for new approaches to this very serious, medical, religious, legal, and ethical dilemma among the pediatric surgeons [21][22][23]. In Rotterdam at the Sophia Children's Hospital, in over a 5-year period, 104 children, newborns and older children, died in the pediatric surgical intensive care unit.…”

Cost-effectiveness of neonatal surgery: first greeted with scepticism, now increasingly accepted

“…Occasionally, the ''best interest'' of the child may justify the withholding or withdrawing of life-prolonging surgical intervention. There may be fundamental uncertainties as to the child's future development, or in some situations, a life strongly burdened by disability and dependency on lifesupport systems may be the ultimate outcome [23][24][25]. Treatment modalities that may involve such ethical dilemmas include extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, the care for extremely premature infants, and prenatal diagnosis and foetal surgery [26][27][28].…”