Palliative care in neonatal period and ethical issues

Abstract

Perinatal palliative care is the active total care of the fetus who has been diagnosed with a life-limiting condition with his/her entirety and also involves giving support to the family. It begins when illness is diagnosed, and continues regardless of whether or not a child receives treatment directed at the disease. Effective palliative care requires a broad multidisciplinary approach that includes the family and makes use of available community resources; it can be successfully implemented even if resources are limited, various barriers to provide palliative care were identified ranging from ethical, moral and attitudinal of physicians, nurses and families. These problems can be solved with providing for the education and training needs of physicians, GPs and nurses in aspects of palliative care, decision making in end-of-life situations, and communication skills.