23-week babies : the price of life.

Only 9 out of every 100 babies born in the UK at 23 weeks (the earliest stage in foetal development that doctors will consider resuscitation) will survive, and only 1 of those will reach adulthood without a severe disability. Dr Adam Wishart travels to Birmingham Women's Hospital and follows the work of the Neonatal intensive care unit as they deal with babies born at such an early stage. We also meet children who survived their extremely premature births with more or less physical and mental disabilities, their requirements for medical care usually continues throughout their lives. Doctors and parents are divided on how they feel about whether or not 23 week old babies should be resuscitated, especially given that most other European countries do not have a resuscitation policy until after 24 weeks.