RCOG see premature babies as objects

The following is 'off topic' and it's not 'news' - in that the article is a month or so old. I meant to post it a while ago, but somehow it slipped my mind. It tells you a lot about Britain - the fourth richest country in the world. Premature babies have been reclassified as objects - unproductive economic units. And I didn't notice much of an outcry. The 'debate' is probably ongoing.

Premeture babies who require months of expensive intensive care in neonatal units have been labelled "bed blockers" by one of Britain's royal colleges of medicine.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) says the huge efforts to save babies born under 25 weeks are hampering the treatment of other infants with a better chance of survival and a healthy life.

As the NHS faces an increasing financial crisis, with beds being closed and jobs axed, it says these very premature babies are "blocking" much-needed intensive care cots, sometimes forcing expectant mothers with potentially healthier babies to be transported by ambulance to other hospitals.

In a submission to a two-year inquiry into premature babies by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the college says: "Some weight should be given to the economic considerations as there is a real issue in neonatal units of 'bed blocking', whereby women have to be transferred in labour to other units, compromising both their and their babies' care." Link