Slashdot Mirror
Doctors Save Premature Baby Using Sandwich Bag
Born 14 weeks early, Lexi Lacey owes her life to some MacGyver inspired doctors and a sandwich bag. Lexi was so small at birth that even the tiniest insulating jacket was too big, but she fit into a plastic sandwich bag nicely. ''The doctors told us they had never known a baby born as prematurely as Lexi survive. She was so tiny the only thing they had to keep her body temperature warm was a sandwich bag from the hospital canteen — it's incredible to think that saved her life," says her mom.
One or none?
Geekism is your _only_ God!
of what your Mom accidentally packed you for lunch.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
Or should I say Glad?
Anybody want a peanut?
Uh... none. What's yours?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
did you take the baby out of the bag first? Or did the baby make it slippery.
rewriting history since 2109
The $.05 sandwich bag was probably billed at $50+
It's true: people with kids aren't fun to be around.
You're right. Parents lose their sense of humor awfully quick. Just one more reason not to be a parent.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Premature birth is not a genetic condition so thers is no eugenics risk to saving premature babies:
http://www.marchofdimes.com/professionals/14332_1157.asp#head2
There is only some additional costs at time of birth and risk of some health problems later in life that are also non-genetic.
Perhaps you should read the article: "Worcestershire Royal Hospital only has the facilities to care for premature babies born from 28 weeks onwards and doctors wanted to transfer her to a specialist unit at Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital but there wasn't time."
If more American hospitals are equipped to deal with babies born earlier than this that could explain a difference in survival rates, but I don't know if that's the case.
Note that Sweden and Germany count the birth rate in the same way as the USA, but do better. At the end of this article are some survival results for full-term births. On Wikipedia there's the 5-year survival rate.
The oft-cited report about infant mortality in the US leaves out some important factors -- namely that socio-economic diversity in the US, and racial heterogenoy correlate with and explain some of our increased infant mortality.
You could say the same about Britain. (From the article, we know this is a teenage (17) mother with an older (24) father, they aren't married, and they all have stereotypical working-class names.)
Finally, we measure mortality much differently here than do most other places.
Yet your own government (see here) "concluded, however, that the differences in reporting are unlikely to be the primary explanation for the United States’ relatively low international ranking."
19th kid? No wonder it's premature, it probably just fell out! Jeez.
Perhaps other hospitals have better cafeteria technologies.
Not really. If they chose not to have me, I wouldn't mind at all. Since I wouldn't have a mind.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
The brain and most of the internal organs develop relatively early during gestation. The lungs are the last major organ to mature and they are frequently what gives very premature infants trouble. Infants born before 32 weeks gestation don't produce surfactant (the stuff that keeps your lungs open so air can get in and out) themselves and can basically suffocate. Once you have them properly ventilated and such, they tend to do okay as long as they don't catch an infection. The immune system also is immature in a baby, but it generally doesn't really kick into gear until about 6 months of age for a normal infant, so it's not specific for premature infants.
Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
Oh for crying out loud, where do you people come from? Seriously. Do you really believe that there's this big group of people out there who just like killing babies for sport?
No. Special means cases where risk to the mother is significantly higher than would normally be expected. There are no doctors out there just rubbing their hands together and laughing maniacally about how many otherwise viable children they intend to kill off in needless third trimester abortions. If a woman is told at a late stage in her pregnancy that it looks like it's going to be either her or the baby, but not both that will survive, that's a horrible moment in her life. Some may choose to risk it all for the sake of the baby, but you have no right to act all superior and expect that she'll lay down her life for that child, who may not live either. You don't even have the courage to post under anything other than Anonymous Coward, so don't expect me to believe that you're so brave that you'd forfeit, or even risk, your life without a second thought.
Further, do you really think that pregnant women typically carry a baby for 6 or 7 months and suddenly decide, "naaah, I don't want one of these after all". There are not swarms of women in the last stages of pregnancy flocking to abortion clinics just for the fun of having an abortion. I won't say that it can't or doesn't *ever* happen, but a woman experiencing a healthy pregnancy, with a healthy baby is not at all likely to seek a late term abortion for no apparent reason.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.