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Library Journal Review

Earl E. Shelp, an ethicist teaching at the Baylor University Medical School, offers a timely, thought-provoking analysis of the question of treatment decisions for defective newborns. While retracing the ground covered by Robert F. Weir in Selective Nontreatment of Handicapped Newborns ( LJ 7/84), Shelp takes a more guarded approach, carefully avoiding the dangers involved in setting up substantive criteria for categories of neonates. Thus his meticulous, reflective approach complements the more broad-brush style of Weir. The issues are far from any resolution by physicians, ethicists, or parents. Yet Shelp boldly defines the ethical boundaries of the dilemma of the critically ill newborn, making this an indispensable book for any library in medicine, nursing, or bioethics. Rev. David A. Buehler, Charlton Memorial Hospital, Fall River, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

It is unusual to have a work that is at the same time thorough, reflective, and provocative. Although written in turgid style, this book reflects a wide range of statements and publications on the balancing of interests in decision making concerning critically ill newborns. Public policy, historical aspects, psychological views, and underlying biological and medical assessment are all given close and careful consideration. The fourth chapter, ``Neonatal Medicine: A Context of Intersecting Interests,'' is the core of the book. Even later intrusions of proscription do not detract from the thorough analysis provided. Developments in technology over the last 25 years have made this book necessary; in light of the unnecessarily emotional public debate now espoused by certain interests, such a book should be mandatory reading, not only by professionals relating to these matters but by policymakers and informed citizens in all walks of life. Highly recommended for academic and public library collections.-D.R. Shanklin, University of Chicago