Hospitals Are Discriminating against the Most Vulnerable Patients

In many hospitals and medical facilities today, a nonscientific assessment of fetal “viability” is used to withhold critical care. There are hospitals and practitioners across the country who lack the basic willingness to intervene with lifesaving medical technology to help extremely preterm newborns and those diagnosed with disabilities. The grounds for this lack of intervention are not medical or scientific in nature.

Instead, they are rooted in the pervasive cultural view that fails to recognize the inherent dignity of these children or that they deserve the effort and resources it takes to treat them. In these cases, determinations about “viability” and recommended treatment options are based more on this discriminatory view of vulnerable patients than the medical research indicating intervention is appropriate.