Tag Archives: Ethics

How often does Whole Genome Sequencing really help the baby? Or their family?

Posted on 21 October 2021 by Keith Barrington

It is a long time since I have written anything on this blog about the above issue, I have an article in submission to the real scientific literature with some illustrious co-authors, but I was prompted to write this blog … Continue reading →

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Pain studies with untreated control groups in babies are unethical.

Posted on 19 August 2021 by Keith Barrington

If you are performing a study of pain control in the newborn and you assign babies to untreated controls, you are creating unnecessary avoidable pain in the control patients. That is true for any patient who is incompetent, obviously including … Continue reading →

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Two amazing trials, at the opposite ends of the spectrum. What a weird world.

Posted on 27 May 2021 by Keith Barrington

In the most recent NEJM two trials impacting newborn/paediatric care. One including 3,211 preterm infants, which shows that a very simple intervention could save, I estimate, tens of thousands of lives each year at almost no cost; the other with … Continue reading →

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Do estimates of survival change decisions made?

Posted on 26 May 2020 by Keith Barrington

Kidszun A, et al. Effect of Neonatal Outcome Estimates on Decision-Making Preferences of Mothers Facing Preterm Birth: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Pediatr. 2020. This is a short report of an interesting idea, published as a research letter. The authors … Continue reading →

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Giving bad news as it happens

Posted on 30 January 2020 by Keith Barrington

A new publication from my great group at Sainte Justine. Lizotte MH, et al. Techniques to Communicate Better With Parents During End-of-Life Scenarios in Neonatology. Pediatrics. 2020:e20191925. We have already published about what residents think about being part of a … Continue reading →

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Gene therapy for SMA; who will win the lottery?

Posted on 10 January 2020 by Keith Barrington

There are few things more disgusting than the obscene actions of drug companies that profit off the distress of dying babies and their families. You might think that the price of a drug would be based on development and production … Continue reading →

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Therapeutic Hypothermia post cardiac arrest

Posted on 13 December 2019 by Keith Barrington

This is a bit off-topic for this blog, but many of you will know that cooling is now used for many other patients than just our full-term asphyxias. Adults who remain with depressed levels of consciousness after resuscitation from a … Continue reading →

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Not futile any more; survival and long term outcomes at 22 weeks.

Posted on 15 October 2019 by Keith Barrington

Imagine, if you will, that you work at a breast cancer center with moderately good results, but you have decided, as a group, to not offer therapy to women with stage 4- triple negative lesions. Survival is so low, you … Continue reading →

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Should we try?

Posted on 11 October 2019 by Keith Barrington

Arnolds M, et al. Worth a Try? Describing the Experiences of Families during the Course of Care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit When the Prognosis is Poor. The Journal of pediatrics. 2018;196:116-22 e3. A few times a year many … Continue reading →

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Active intervention at 22 weeks gestation, is it futile?

Posted on 29 October 2018 by Keith Barrington

In order to respond to the question posed in the title we need first to agree on what “futile” means. It could mean “it never works” or, “it can work but the ultimate result is so bad that it isn’t … Continue reading →

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