Withdrawal of care

[cc_nurse]

I know this is part of being a NICU nurse, but how do you all deal with the ethical implications of withdrawing care? I am really struggling with a recent demise and would like some input as to what the greater NICU nursing community thinks about WOC.

Thanks in advance :-)

[LilPeanut, MSN, RN, NP]

I've never encountered a withdrawal of care that raised ethical issues for me. I have encountered many situations though when care has been continued and I have doubted whether it was ethical to do so.

[Finallyat40]

there is no question as to it's necessity. In fact, usually by the time the family has come to the decision, the nursing/medical staff is more than ready to comply. In my opinion, we tend to wait a bit long before we present the realities to the families.

So I guess, long story short, I feel that we're stopping the torture on the babies and allowing them to be at peace.

This is not to say that I am not affected emotionally by these situations...anytime a baby dies, it's hard on the soul, and especially when you've gotten to "know" them. Our unit is very good about communicating with each other and allowing others to vent and share their grief, that helps a lot!

Jamie

[fergus51]

I accept the withdrawal of extreme measures to be the right of the parents. They are the ones who have to live with the decision. They are the ones who love that baby more than anyone else in the world. It isn't my place to decide anything, so I just do the best I can with them and their baby. Honestly, I've had more ethical problems with continuing treatment on hopeless cases then I ever have from allowing a baby to die peacefully.

I don't call it withdrawal of care because we provide them with care to the very end.

[cc_nurse]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate your input. I have only been at this for about 8 months so am still working through the emotional aspects of the job.

We provide care to the end too- try to make it as meaningful for the parents and baby as possible, but it still was very difficult. I think it was because this one of the first micropremies I personally admitted and cared for over much of her life that I felt more strongly about the situation.

On an aside, I apologize for the unfortunate smiley icon on my post, I clicked on the wrong one and wasn't able to remedy it...