NYC Letter: "I'm Not Ready To Die" IV

Day 244 of CHOPE

Special UK T-L-C National Health Edition.

Grim reading.

'DOCTORS TOLD ME IT WAS AGAINST THE RULES
TO SAVE MY PREMATURE BABY'

September 10, 2009 (Daily Mail) - Sarah Capewell begged them to save her tiny son, who was born just 21 weeks and five days into her pregnancy - almost four months early. They ignored her pleas and allegedly told her they were following national guidelines that babies born before 22 weeks should not be given medical treatment.

Miss Capewell, 23, said doctors refused to even see her son Jayden, who lived for almost two hours without any medical support. She said he was breathing unaided, had a strong heartbeat and was even moving his arms and legs, but medics refused to admit him to a special care baby unit.

Medics allegedly told her that they would have tried to save the baby if he had been born two days later, at 22 weeks. In fact, the medical guidelines for Health Service hospitals state that babies should not be given intensive care if they are born at less than 23 weeks.

The guidance, drawn up by the Nuffield Council, is not compulsory but advises doctors that medical intervention for very premature children is not in the best interests of the baby, and is not 'standard practice'.

The best interests of preemies born into a congested government health system is death. [Hard pause.] As if this were some sort of consensus among preemies.

James Paget Hospital in Norfolk refused to comment on the case but said it was not responsible for setting the guidelines relating to premature births. A trust spokesman said: 'Like other acute hospitals, we follow national guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine regarding premature births.'

You see, it's government work, no one's to blame really. Just abstract elective guidelines that took on a life of their own convincing medical professionals that their first priority is not the patient before them, but the government behind them.

Miss Capewell, who has had five miscarriages, said the guidelines had robbed her son of a chance of life. Miss Capewell:

When he was born, he put out his arms and legs and pushed himself over. A midwife said he was breathing and had a strong heartbeat, and described him as a "little fighter". I kept asking for the doctors but the midwife said, "They won't come and help, sweetie. Make the best of the time you have with him".

... [Miss Capewell] said she was told that because she had not reached 22 weeks, she was not allowed injections to try to stop the labour, or a steroid injection to help to strengthen her baby's lungs. Instead, doctors told her to treat the labour as a miscarriage, not a birth, and to expect her baby to be born with serious deformities or even to be still-born.

She told how she begged one paediatrician, 'You have got to help', only for the man to respond:

No we don't.

[Miss Capewell] was shocked to discover that another child, born in the U.S. at 21 weeks and six days into her mother's pregnancy, had survived. Amillia Taylor was born in Florida in 2006 and celebrated her second birthday last October. She is the youngest premature baby to survive. Miss Capewell:

I could not believe that one little girl, Amillia Taylor, is perfectly healthy after being born in Florida in 2006 at 21 weeks and six days.

Thousands of women have experienced this. The doctors say the babies won't survive but how do they know if they are not giving them a chance?

How indeed.

Miss Capewell is fighting for a review of the medical guidelines. Her site can be found here.