You will prepare and submit a term paper on Explore the physiological/ ethical and social issues that are associated with the care and management of a pre-term neonate born at 32/ 40 gestation and to

You will prepare and submit a term paper on Explore the physiological/ ethical and social issues that are associated with the care and management of a pre-term neonate born at 32/ 40 gestation and to eval. Your paper should be a minimum of 1500 words in length. The serious complications that could result from mismanagement could affect the child’s growth, development and survival (Gracey, 2005).

Preterm births not only incur developmental and health costs for the child. each preterm birth incurs a cost to the society as well. Petrou (2005), for example, reported that the cumulative cost of hospital admissions of children born at 32-36 weeks gestation to amount to 7,393.78 UK pounds. This is more than a hundred percent greater than the average 3,409.14 UK pounds that term infants incur in hospital admissions. Petrou, et. Al. (2001) gave a report, revealing that preterm and low birth weight infants incur substantial costs to the health sector immediately after the child’s discharge from the hospital. Subsequently, according to the report, preterms impose substantial burden to the families and on different sectors of the society such as education, social services (Petrou, et. Al., 2001). All these costs are associated with the high rates of disability, disease and deaths of those born prematurely (Petrou, S., 2003. Gracey, 2005).

Given these issues, particularly the possible future health consequences to the child as well as the societal costs associated with preterm birth, ethical issues such as the value of human life, best interests, deliberate ending of life and withholding of treatment arise (Boyle, et. Al., 2004. Brazier, n.d. Stridsberg, 2005). With the proper understanding of the issue and proper management, however, the guardian or the practitioner need not deal with these ethical dilemmas.

It is during the last trimester particularly in the eighth and ninth months, that your baby starts a growth spurt. At the end of the term, the baby could be as long as 20 inches and could weigh to about 7.5 pounds. Prior to this, the fetus is only about 14-16 inches long and weighs 2.5 – 3.5 pounds (Your Third Trimester Fetal Development, n.d.