Page 12 - 104-105山醫學倫理暨人文醫學圖書心得精選集

damage, blindness or chronic lung disease. The decision to
either continue or withhold treatments is a difficult one with no
easy answers. Physicians are often caught between the
conflicting desires to preserve life and to decrease the risk of
disability. When faced with such a challenge, we must consider
not only the clinical prognosis of the patient, but also the legal
and moral implications of our actions.

對醫學、社會方陎影響〆

In this book the author presents a case involving an
extremely premature baby and raises ethical questions
commonly encountered in pediatric practice. When should
resuscitation be initiated? And how long should it last? Was it
negligent for the pediatrician to withdraw resuscitation after 10
minutes?

One of the main considerations on when to resuscitate
involves determining the limit of viability, namely the chance a
premature baby would have of surviving outside of the uterus.
According to statistics provided by the Premature Baby
Foundation of Taiwan, the survival rate for babies of less than
22 weeks of gestation is less than 10%, 10-20% for babies at
23 weeks of gestation and around 60% for babies around 24-25
weeks of gestation. Based on the data, the limit of viability is
usually considered to be around 24 weeks of gestation, the

4 104-105 年度〃醫學倫理〃人文醫學〃心得