Perinatal palliative care: a developing specialty.

Neonates and babies have the highest death rate in the paediatric population. Perinatal palliative care aims to enhance the quality of life of babies with a life-limiting condition and their families. However, very little data is available on perinatal palliative care and its impact on babies and families along their journey. End-of-life decision-making for babies with an adverse prognosis also remains ethically challenging. This paper provides an overview of perinatal palliative care and its development, and then considers some of the issues affecting this field by looking at single national, institutional, and patient case studies.