Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and African-Americans
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is a condition that many people still are trying to figure out why it happens to these babies. This syndrome is described as an unexplained death of an infant younger than one year of age. SIDS is frightening because it can strike without warning and affect a good, healthy infant. Most SIDS deaths occur at night and without warning. SIDS victims may have been down for sleep for as little as ten minutes, they show signs of struggle or suffering. Although SIDS is commonly associated with an infants sleep time, and often occurs in the crib. This event is not limited to the crib and may occur anywhere the infant is sleeping, deaths have occurred in infant seats, car seats, strollers, and in the parents' bed. Infants that die a SIDS death do not show signs of suffering, it appears as if they simply fell asleep and did not wake up. Commonalities that define a SIDS death are:
• the major cause of death in infants from 1 month to 1 year of age, with most deaths occurring between 2 and 4 months
• sudden and silent death in a infant that was seemingly healthy
• currently, unpredictable and unpreventable
• a death that occurs quickly, often associated with sleep and with no signs of suffering
• determined only after an autopsy, an examination of the death scene, and a review of the clinical history
• designated as a diagnosis of exclusion
• a recognized medical disorder listed in the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9)
• an infant death that leaves unanswered questions, causing intense grief for parents and families
Prior to extensive research in S...
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...t will provide the basis of eliminating SIDS as a cause of infant death. (Goyco, 1990)
Works Cited
Brandenburg, Mark A., Child Safe : A Practical Guide for Preventing Childhood Injuries
Corr, C.A., Fuller, H., Barnickol, C.A., and Corr, D.M. (Eds).Sudden Infant Death Syndrome: Who Can Help and How. New York: Springer Publishing Co., 1991.
Goyco, P.G., and Beckerman, R.C. "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome."Current Problems in Pediatrics 20(6):299-346, June 1990.
Willinger, M., James, L.S., and Catz, C. "Defining the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS): Deliberations of an Expert Panel Convened by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development."Pediatric Pathology 11:677-684, 1991.
National Center for Health Statistics. "Advance Report of Final Mortality Statistics, 1988."Monthly Vital Statistics Report, Vol. 39, No. 7, Supp. 1990, p. 33.
This case was taken into the British court system where, after a long trial, a judge upheld the doctor’s decision not to resuscitate. The reasoning was that the judge felt he could not order the doctors to perform actions that would cause increased suffering for the child. After considering the doctrines of the sanctity of life and the...
20 Jan. 2014. http://www.invw.org/node/955>. United States. Office of the Medical Examiner.
Neonatal nursing is a field of nursing designed especially for both newborns and infants up to 28 days old. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin”. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team. These are trained professionals who concentrate on ensuring that the newborn infants under their care are able to survive whatever potential life threatening event they encounter. They treat infants that are born with a variety of life threatening issues that include instances of prematurity, congenital birth defects, surgery related problems, cardiac malformations, severe burns, or acute infection. Neonatal care in hospitals was always done by the nursing staff but it did not officially become a specialized medical field until well into 1960s. This was due to the numerous advancements in both medical care training and related technology that allowed for the improved treatment and survival rate of premature babies. According to the March of Dimes, one of every thirteen babies born in the United States annually suffers from low birth weight. This is a leading cause in 65% of infant deaths. Therefore, nurses play a very important role in providing round the clock care for these infants, those born with birth defects or other life threatening illness. In addition, these nurses also tend to healthy babies while their mothers recover from the birthing process. Prior to the advent of this specialized nursing field at risk newborn infants were mostly cared for by obstetricians and midwives who had limited resources to help them survive (Meeks 3).
The cause or causes of SIDS are still unknown. Most researchers now believe that babies who die of SIDS are born with one or more conditions that make them vulnerable to both internal and external stresses that occur in the normal life of an infant. Most deaths from SIDS occur by the end of the sixth month with the greatest number taking place between two and four months of age. A SIDS death occurs quickly and is often associated with sleep, with no signs of suffering. More deaths are reported in the winter months and most victims are boys, with a sixty-to-forty percent male-to-female ratio.
Braddock and Tonelli. “Physician-Assisted Suicide.” Ethics in Medicine University of Washington Medical School. 2008. .
We know babies die from SIDS and they have been looking high and low for a cause. Everyone seems to want a neat and tidy answer to what has happened to these babies, and I understand why. I believe co-sleeping has been given a bad reputation because people need something to blame and not based on actual scientific evidence. Dr. William Sears suggests that, “In those infants at risk for SIDS, natural mothering [unrestricted breastfeeding and sharing sleep with baby] will lower the risk of SIDS” (Sears, "Cosleeping and Biological Imperatives").... ...
This can be diagnosed during the pregnancy or after the baby is born. “Anencephaly would result in an abnormal result on a blood or serum screening test or it might be seen during an ultrasound.” This birth defect is more common in girls than boys. There is also no cure or standard treatment since most die shortly after birth. As a way to offer support to these families, many hospitals offer perinatal hospice care. A perinatal hospice approach helps these families through the process: pregnancy, birth, and death. ("Facts about
The criteria or definition of brain death was re-examined in 1968 by a committee at Harvard Medical School and is part of the criteria used today. They defined it as when a patient; is unresponsive to stimulus; cannot move or breathe without the aid of a ventilator and has no brain stem reflexes. Several tests are done in order to determine if a patient meets these criteria and this can be done by physicians and neurologists. A brain dead patient is legally dead and a death cer...
Prematurity.(2009). Retrieved July 10, 2010, from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Website: http://www.cdc.gov/features/prematurebirth/
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a baby ranging from low birth weight and abnormalities to death. There are a few government
There are many factors in which parents need to take into consideration before and after your baby is born that can affect their health. There are certain precautions every parent must take in order to keeping their child healthy. The first years of a child’s life (including in the womb) is very crucial to the child’s physical, mental, emotional, and social growth. Some of the resulting defects a child may have resulting from the irresponsibility of parents before and after the baby is born includes Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS), The Effects of Smoking on a Developing Fetus and/or Baby, Shaken Baby Syndrome, and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
American academy of Pediatrics (AAP), (1999). US Vital Statistics show Death Rates down, Birth Rates up: http://www.aapaorg/advocacy/archives/decvital.htm
President's Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and Biomedical and Behavioral Research. Defining Death: A Report on the Medical, Legal and Ethical Issues in the Determination of Death. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1981.
5: to break down in vital energy, stamina, or self-control through exhaustion or disease; especially: to fall helpless or unconscious