The health of newborns has always been subject to the natural lottery. When in the past a severely disabled baby was born, nature provided the “solution,” and the child did not survive. Medical technology has brought about a change; fetuses who would have died during pregnancy or newborns who once would have had little chance to survive are now kept alive. Although these technological advances do benefit many children, the dark side is that more severely handicapped babies are surviving.When a (...) severely disabled baby is born, all persons concerned are faced with emotional difficulties as well as moral and legal dilemmas. Questions that arise include whether it is acceptable, morally and legally, to allow the severely handicapped newborn to die by forgoing treatment or by direct intervention. (shrink)

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The author joins the discussion on selection of patients in the face of life-saving resources initiated in the Journal by Parsons and Lock, Mooney and the editorial in the December 1980 issue. In this article several selection systems are discussed. The author is in favour of a `criteria-system'. The criteria for such a system are elaborated. On the basis of a sequence of values a sequence of criteria is proposed. Attention is also given to the procedural aspects.

The editors welcome letters from readers, although we cannot guarantee that all will be published. To ensure timeliness, correspondents must respond to an article within seven weeks and not exceed two double‐spaced pages. Letters become the property of the editors and may be edited and shortened at our discretion.