In April 1982, an infant boy was born in Bloomington, Indiana, with Down
syndrome and a defective, but surgically correctable, esophagus. His
parents refused to consent to surgery or intravenous feeding. The
hospital unsuccessfully sought a court order to force treatment, and
appeals to higher courts also failed. The child, identified as Baby Doe
by the news media, subsequently died. The events in Bloomington became
the catalyst for action by the Reagan administration, the courts, and
Congress that culminated in a federal policy that makes failure to treat
newborns with disabilities a form of child neglect. This book centers on
the public policy aspects of withholding treatment from critically ill
newborns who are disabled. Specifically, it deals with why the policy
was enacted and what impact it has had on health care workers, families,
and infants. Some of the contributors to this book spearheaded the early
debate on withholding treatment. Anthony Shaw's New York Times Magazine
article in 1972 was the first to address these issues in the popular
press. The following year, he published a related article in the New
England Journal of Medicine. Also appearing in this same issue of NEJM,
was the pathbreaking study, coauthored by A. G. M. Campbell, on
withholding treatment in the special care nursery at Yale-New Haven
Hospital. Each of these articles promoted much public and professional
discussion.