Birth as a First Transition – Questions on Limits in Neonatology



Wednesday, 12. October 2016 | 14:45 Uhr

Speaker

Valdo Pezzoli

Organisation

Ospedale Regionale di Lugano

Reporting

Dr. med. Valdo Pezzoli, specialist for premature births (neonatology) of the Lugano Cantonal Hospital, works in a border area every day.

“Birth itself is a border crossing,” Valdo Pezzoli explained to the Conference participants. The child crosses a social, legal, and cultural border. For his daily work, however, other boundaries are more important, for example technical limits: “If a child only weighs one kilogram it is difficult to find access to the child’s veins for infusions.”

An entirely different boundary arises with the question of ethics. “The ethical discussion is important because a newborn baby cannot speak and the parents are often overwhelmed,” Valdo Pezzoli knew from his own experience.

Find more explanations by Valdo Pezzoli, including his plea for humane medicine, in the video.

Valdo Pezzoli

Born in 1957, he studied medicine at the University of Zurich. He then obtained further training in pathology, internal medicine, pediatrics and neonatology, conducted clinical work as a pediatrician at the University Hospital Zurich, and completed a Masters course in social pediatrics at the Institute of Child Health in London followed.

Dr. Med., M.Sc. Valdo Pezzoli has been Chief Physician of the Pediatric Clinic of the Lugano Regional Hospital since 2002.

His professional interests focus on clinical, mental and social questions of the developmental age, with an emphasis on the fields of behavioral disorders; chronic illness and disability; child protection; and medical ethics.

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