Abstract
To the Editor: Lantos et al. (Jan. 14 issue)* address an important question in the ethics of caring for sick newborns: When do medical interventions, specifically cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), become futile? If the goal of their study was to provoke discussion, the authors have been successful. However, if the goal was to prove the futility of CPR in very-low-birth-weight infants, the study is so seriously flawed that it cannot support that conclusion. Our criticisms focus on three aspects of the study design: selection of the study population, definition, and inappropriate generalization. The study population is poorly defined and may also.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 176-178 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | New England Journal of Medicine |
Volume | 319 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 21 1988 |