ReviewSeminars in fetal & neonatal medicine2014
Ethical language and decision-making for prenatally diagnosed lethal malformations.
Review in Seminars in fetal & neonatal medicine, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Communicating neurological prognosis in the prenatal period: a narrative review and practice guidelines.Pediatric research · 2025Guideline
- An ethical issue in the prenatal and postnatal management of trisomy 18: a survey of obstetricians.Annals of medicine · 2025Article
- Supporting parents' emotional and mental health in the antenatal consultation.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2025Review
- Insights into Congenital Body Stalk Anomaly Coupled with Placenta Accreta Conditions: A Case Report.The American journal of case reports · 2025Article
- Navigating the post-Dobbs landscape: ethical considerations from a perinatal perspective.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2024Review
- Role of palliative care in fetal neurological consultations: Guiding through uncertainty and hope.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Article
- Reimagining Perinatal Palliative Care: A Broader Role for Support in the Face of Uncertainty.Journal of palliative care · 2022Article
- Influence of Religiosity on Situational Coping Scores in Women with Malformed Fetuses.Journal of religion and health · 2020Article
- Reproductive options for families at risk of Osteogenesis Imperfecta: a review.Orphanet journal of rare diseases · 2020Review
- Ethical issues about the paradigm shift in the treatment of children with trisomy 18.European journal of pediatrics · 2020Review
- Perinatal Palliative Care Birth Planning as Advance Care Planning.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2020Review
- [25 years of work: The Interdisciplinary Team for Fetal Malformation at the Institute of Mother and Child in Warsaw - from counselling to clinical ethics].Developmental period medicine · 2019Article
- Incompatible with Care: Examining Trisomy 18 Medical Discourse and Families' Counter-discourse for Recuperative Ethos.The Journal of medical humanities · 2018Article
- Prenatal counseling and parental decision-making following a fetal diagnosis of trisomy 13 or 18.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2018Article
- Pena-Shokeir syndrome: current management strategies and palliative care.The application of clinical genetics · 2018Review
- Severe Fetal Abnormality and Outcomes of Continued Pregnancies: A French Multicenter Retrospective Study.Maternal and child health journal · 2017Article
- Evidence-based, ethically justified counseling for fetal bilateral renal agenesis.Journal of perinatal medicine · 2017Review
- Medical and ethical challenges in the case of a prenatally undiagnosed massive congenital brain tumor.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2015Article
- Barriers in referring neonatal patients to perinatal palliative care: a French multicenter survey.PloS one · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
In clinical practice, and in the medical literature, severe congenital malformations such as trisomy 18, anencephaly, and renal agenesis are frequently referred to as 'lethal' or as 'incompatible with life'. However, there is no agreement about a definition of lethal malformations, nor which conditions should be included in this category. Review of outcomes for malformations commonly designated 'lethal' reveals that prolonged survival is possible, even if rare. This article analyses the concept of lethal malformations and compares it to the problematic concept of 'futility'. We recommend avoiding the term 'lethal' and suggest that counseling should focus on salient prognostic features instead. For conditions with a high chance of early death or profound impairment in survivors despite treatment, perinatal and neonatal palliative care would be ethical. However, active obstetric and neonatal management, if desired, may also sometimes be appropriate.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.