Baby Doe regulations and medical judgment.

The potential for conflict between social policy and medical judgment can be examined in relation to the 'Baby Doe' regulations issued by the U.S. Federal Government in 1984. These regulations identify the circumstances in which medical treatment may be withheld from handicapped infants. This article reports on a national survey of perinatal social workers which compared their responses to the answers of physicians to similar questions published earlier. These social workers failed to express a conflict between sound medical judgment and the federal regulations when confronted with three hypothetical cases. The same was true in the published study of physicians but that data was erroneously interpreted as providing evidence of a conflict between medical judgment and federal regulations. On some general opinion statements, the social workers were similar to physicians in their criticism of these regulations but on others they were equivocal. While the majority of responses of social workers to other questions about these regulations was rather similar to the responses of physicians, the social workers were found to be more inclined than physicians to express the view that these regulations were needed to protect the rights of handicapped infants and the view that the physician's practice had been changed as a result of these regulations.

The Baby Doe regulations: views from perinatal social workers.

In 1984 the federal government issued the "Baby Doe" regulations, designed to protect the rights of handicapped infants. Members of the National Association of Perinatal Social Workers were asked to evaluate these regulations and were given the opportunity to comment on their impact. The authors present and discuss these comments with respect to the helpfulness of the regulations, physician discretion, parental rights, and the social work role.

Religious-based denial in the NICU: implications for social work.

Families of critically ill infants in the neonatal intensive care unit may be placed in the emotionally charged position of making treatment decisions about their infants, including the withholding of medical treatment. Some families, unable to deal with these issues, cope through a harmful form of religious denial; the eternal belief in a miracle. This article discusses the concept of death, religious-based denial, and health care team reactions to such family dynamics. The role of the social worker is reviewed in regard to: (1) dealing with his/her own feelings about religious-based denial (2) advocating for families, and (3) supporting and consulting with staff around this sensitive area.