INCREASINGLY, HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS at all levels are being forced to weigh the economic impact of treatment. Davey and colleagues state that health care economics depends on two basic assumptions.1 These assumptions are, first, that resources are limited and, second, that resources should be allocated to produce as much good as possible. On an intellectual basis it is hard to disagree with these assumptions. But in the day-to-day care of at-risk neonates it may be difficult to implement them.
