Asking the Courts to Set the Standard of Emergency Care -- The Case of Baby K
- 26 May 1994
- journal article
- case report
- Published by Massachusetts Medical Society in New England Journal of Medicine
- Vol. 330 (21) , 1542-1545
- https://doi.org/10.1056/nejm199405263302120
Abstract
Almost two decades ago, Dr. Franz J. Ingelfinger predicted that if physicians kept turning to the courts “to resolve essentially medical matters,” the medical profession's unfortunate “dependence on the lawyer in reaching essentially medical decisions will continue”1. One can argue about what decisions are “essentially medical,” but the trend that worried Dr. Ingelfinger has continued, and now physicians and a hospital have sought legal and judicial guidance about how -- and whether -- to treat an anencephalic infant known as Baby K.Treating Baby KBaby K was born by cesarean section on October 13, 1992, at Fairfax Hospital . . .Keywords
This publication has 4 references indexed in Scilit:
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- The Infant with AnencephalyNew England Journal of Medicine, 1990
- Legal Hegemony in MedicineNew England Journal of Medicine, 1975