Fetal palliative care

Efforts in advance palliative care planning for the fetus at risk of dying should be as clinically and socially acceptable as the provision of continued life-extending endeavors. The diagnosis of a fetus at risk of dying because of a lethal anomaly or prematurity is a monumental moment in a family's life. It requires not only extensive team counseling about complex neonatal and obstetric medical management but also acknowledgment, counseling, and support of complex mental health, ethical, and spiritual issues.