Reimagining Perinatal Palliative Care: A Broader Role for Support in the Face of Uncertainty

Reimagining Perinatal Palliative Care: A Broader Role for Support in the Face of Uncertainty

Lord S; Williams R; Pollard L; Ives-Baine L; Wilson C; Goodman K; Rapoport A

Journal of palliative care

2022

female; grief; ethics; human; perinatal care; uncertainty; article; palliative therapy; comfort; fetus; patient referral; infant; bereavement support; decision making

Perinatal medicine is confronted by a growing number of complex fetal conditions that can be diagnosed prenatally. The evolution of potentially life-prolonging interventions for the baby before and after birth contributes to prognostic uncertainty. For clinicians who counsel families in these circumstances, determining which ones might benefit from early palliative care referral can be challenging. We assert that all women carrying a fetus diagnosed with a life-threatening condition for which comfort-focused care at birth is one ethically reasonable option ought to be offered palliative care support prenatally, regardless of the chosen plan of care. Early palliative care support can contribute to informed decision making, enhance psychological and grief support, and provide opportunities for care planning that includes ways to respect and honor the life of the fetus or baby, however long it may be.

Article information provided for research and reference use only. PedPalASCNET does not hold any rights over the resource listed here. All rights are retained by the journal listed under publisher and/or the creator(s).

August 2022 List