Abstract

Definition of the problem: The following article presents the model for a structured decision-making process in intensive neonatal care. The model has been developed during the last 3 years by an interdisciplinary group of physicians, nurses and a hospital minister under the guidance of an ethicist. The model is an alternative to the decision-making process either through static guidelines and rules or through situational ethics with no general rules at all. The model is meant to be a realm of security for the premature or handicapped newborn against the arbitrary decision-making of the doctors or parents. At present, the model for a structured decision-making process is being evaluated within the context of an interdisciplinary project sponsored by the National Foundation of Science of Switzerland