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Morning News

Study Examines Health, Life Quality of 'Micropreemies'

Aired August 10, 2000 - 10:40 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANDRIA HALL, CNN ANCHOR: Premature babies have a better chance of surviving today because of technological advances, but that does not assure them of a problem-free future.

CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has more now on this latest study.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Am I tickling you?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Shaulia Harris (ph) weighs one pound, eight ounces; Bryanna Milbert (ph), one pound, seven ounces; Alana Kyle (ph), one pound, six ounces.

Just five or 10 years ago, these so-called "micropreemies" would likely have died as soon as they were born. Now, more than half survive. But as medical technology advances, doctors and ethicists are asking, what kind of life will these children have?

DR. SAUL ADLER, NEONATOLOGIST: The old story is, well, why are you taking care of that little 20-week fetus? And the answer is, because I can.

COHEN (on camera): A study in "The New England Journal of Medicine" looked at the tiniest of preemies -- those born between 15 and 20 weeks early. The findings: half of them had disabilities and half of those were severe.

(voice-over): Two-year-old Michael Kronik was born 17 weeks early. He had cerebral palsy.

KATHY KRONIK, MOTHER OF MICROPREEMIE: He was 12 inches long, the size of a Barbie doll.

COHEN: Like many parents of micropreemies, the Kroniks were given a choice at delivery.

KRONIK: We could hold him and he would die, or they could do whatever they had to do to keep him alive.

COHEN: The Kroniks were warned that the chances of disability were high, but they've never regretted their decision. DR. DEANNE WILSON-COSTELLO, NEONATOLOGIST: Nobody ever would want to, you know, play like God in the delivery room, but would try to want to have as much opportunity for information as they can to factor all of those things in. And I think that's really where the task of neonatology for the 21st century is.

COHEN: And as technology advances, doctors are able to save even smaller and smaller babies as the ethical questions become bigger and bigger.

Elizabeth Cohen, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HALL: What a dilemma.

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