In East Lansing, MI, February 1994, Traci Messenger delivered her second child Michael by C-section. He was born at 25 weeks gestation, after early labor couldn’t be prevented. In preparation for the premature birth, Traci and her husband Gregory (who is a dermatologist) were informed by their doctor of the risks to the child. At the time, a child born at 25 weeks had a 30-50% chance of survival and 90% chance of a brain bleed causing some degree of mental and physical handicap. They requested that the staff not resuscitate the child or put him on life support at birth. Their doctor later denied agreeing to their request, wanting to evaluate the infant before deciding what to do (this was seemingly a miscommunication between patient and doctor).
When born, Michael weighed 1 pound 11 ounces, typical for his gestational age, and was purple and limp. A neonatal intensive care physician’s assistant, who had been instructed by the doctor to not revive the child unless it looked
2007-12-19
13:04:07
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