Miss Capewell gave birth to a baby son when she was 21 weeks and 5 days into her pregnancy and pleaded with doctors and midwives to admit the newborn to a special care baby unit. Staff at James Paget Hospital, in Gorleston, Norfolk, told her that if her son Jayden had been born two days later, at 22 weeks, they would have tried to help him.
She is now fighting for a change to guidance drawn up by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics in 2006, and strengthened by advice published by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine last year, which says intensive care should never be given to babies below 22 weeks gestation, and rarely to those below 23 weeks.
She has created a website, Justice for Jayden, campaigning for changes, which has already attracted 5,000 members, including scores of women who have suffered a similar plight. ...
Dr. Alan Cairns | 6/22/2009
