Neonatology - The Importance of Trial and Error

Survival of very low birthwaite babies has increased quite ably. The hammersmith hospital in london, england now reports a survival of 77% for babies between 501 thousand grams and one to two pounds. But there have been costs to this progress with the uncontrolled use of oxygen leading to an epidemic of blindness amongst premature babies in the 19 fifties. There is now a movement within perinatal medicine generally to subject common procedures to careful risk benefit analysis - but it's not always easy to do.