Religion and Ethics in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

What are the teachings of the major world religious traditions about the status and care of the premature or sick newborn? This question becomes important in the context of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) committed to the ideals of family-centered care, which encourages shared decision making between parents and NICU caregivers. In cases of infants with conditions marked by high mortality, morbidity, or “great suffering,” family-centered care affirms the right of parents to assist in decisions regarding aggressive treatment for their infant. But while there is evidence that families’ religious beliefs often profoundly shape their approach to medical decision making, few studies have tried to understand what major religious traditions teach about the care of the newborn or how these teachings may bear on parents’ decisions. This volume seeks to address this need, providing information on religious teachings to the multidisciplinary teams of NICU professionals (neonatologists, advance practice nurses, social workers), parents of NICU patients, and students of bioethics. In chapters dealing with Judaism, Catholicism, Denominational Protestantism, Evangelical Protestantism, African American Protestantism, Sunni and Shi’a Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Navajo religion, and Seventh-day Adventism, leading scholars develop the teachings of these traditions on the status, treatment, and ritual accompaniments of care of the premature or sick newborn.