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Approaches to end-of-life decision-making in the NICU: insights from Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor

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Abstract

For many parents stopping life-sustaining medical treatment on their dying infant is psychologically impossible. Dostoevsky's insights into human behavior, particularly the fact that individuals do not want the anxiety and guilt associated with responsibility for making difficult decisions, might change the way physicians approach parents for permission to withdraw life-prolonging medical interventions on dying infants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Bioethics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA, USA

    J J Paris

  2. Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA

    N Graham

  3. Department of Pediatrics (Neonatology), University of Chicago, Children's Hospital, Chicago, IL, USA

    M D Schreiber

  4. Health Law Institute, DePaul University College of Law, Chicago, IL, USA

    M Goodwin

Authors
  1. J J Paris
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  2. N Graham
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  3. M D Schreiber
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  4. M Goodwin
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Correspondence to J J Paris.

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Paris, J., Graham, N., Schreiber, M. et al. Approaches to end-of-life decision-making in the NICU: insights from Dostoevsky's The Grand Inquisitor. J Perinatol 26, 389–391 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211535

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.jp.7211535

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