Family

The family consists of a 34 year old father, a 24 year old mother, and a newborn baby. The parents have been married for two years. This was their first child and the mother's first pregnancy. The mother is recovering but the baby is sick and has been admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).The baby boy was born at 35 weeks and weighed 2700 grams. The newborn infant has a wrinkled abdomen due to the lack of adequate abdominal musculature, a right ventral wall hernia, undescended testes, a dilated bladder, and hypoplastic lungs. The family did not have any prenatal testing done during the pregnancy. After the baby was born, the mother was unable to bond with the baby for several days because of the baby's complications. The doctors were insistent that the baby would not survive. The doctors informed the parents the baby should be given to the state of Alabama because the baby would be a burden on them financially and emotionally. The parents felt pressured and confused in their decisions regarding the baby's welfare. The family lives in Homewood with both of the parents working. The father is an accountant and the mother is a school teacher. Financially the family is considered to be middle class. The family has private insurance that covers most health care after payment of a deductible of $500. The private insurance does provide home health care if the family decides to take the infant home. Economically, the family is under financial strain because of the infant being in ICU and