Acknowledged Dependence And The Virtues Of Perinatal Hospice

Acknowledged Dependence And The Virtues Of Perinatal Hospice

Aaron D Cobb

Journal Of Medicine & Philosophy

2016

Hospices (terminal Care); Social Aspects; Prenatal Care; Palliative Treatment

Acknowledged Dependence; Alasdair Macintyre; Life-limiting Conditions; Palliative Care; Perinatal Hospice; Prenatal Screening

Prenatal screening can lead to the detection and diagnosis of significantly life-limiting conditions affecting the unborn child. Recognizing the difficulties facing parents who decide to continue the pregnancy, some have proposed perinatal hospice as a new modality of care. Although the medical literature has begun to devote significant attention to these practices, systematic philosophical reflection on perinatal hospice has been relatively limited. Drawing on Alasdair MacIntyre’s account of the virtues of acknowledged dependence, I contend that perinatal hospice manifests and facilitates virtues essential to living well with human dependency and vulnerability. For this reason, perinatal hospice deserves broad support within society.

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May 2016 List