Pregnancy has rarely, if ever, been thought of as something that would disrupt the physician-patient relationship-or in the case of pediatric medicine, the physician-patient-parent relationship. Pregnancy is usually a joyous occasion-cause for congratulations in the workplace, just as it is among family and friends. However, certain patient populations may view it differently.Consider the following situation, which I recently experienced while working overnight in the newborn intensive care unit. At midnight, I was called, along with the rest of the neona-tology team, to see a two-day-old baby boy. He had been born at about twenty-five weeks gestation weighing just over one pound. Although he had been doing well earlier in the day, he had taken a turn for the worse, and his vital signs were gravely low. The team-neonatal practitioners, nurses, and me (a neo-natology fellow)-initiated a code, replaced his breathing tube, performed chest compressions, administered medications, and placed chest tubes. The baby's mother and family were contacted and asked to come immediately, as we now believed the child would probably not survive the night.
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