A Handful of Life - Extreme Preemies and Theis Cahnces
Synopsis
More and more babies are born too early: 15 million premature births worldwide. Some of them come into this world at only 22 weeks and weigh less than 500 grams: the "extreme preemies”. Not that long ago, few people would have believed that such prematurely born babies stood a chance of survival. Today, survival rates for these tiny beings have increased significantly. Following the cases of four extremely premature babies in Germany, France, Great Britain and Japan, this scientific documentary takes a look at international treatment methods in neonatology. It shows the results of recent brain research, presents a long-term study and also follows the worldwide ethical discussion on when life begins. Globally, doctors have a lot of freedom to decide the age at which a child can be kept alive. While doctors in Japan have been legally required to save lives from 22 weeks since 1995, in China premature babies younger than 28 weeks rarely survive. Within Europe too, there are stark differences. And intensive medical treatment has its price. The care of a premature baby can cost up to € 150,000. For some, this factor, too, should be taken into consideration when a decision is made about when life should begin.
In order for our website to function optimally, we use cookies for some of our applications. This includes i.a. the embedded social media, but also a tracking tool that provides us with information about the ergonomics of our website and user behavior. If you click on "Accept all cookies", you agree to the use of technically necessary cookies and those to optimize our website. See "Cookie Settings" for more information.
Control settings
Please select your preferences. You can change these at any time.
In order for our website to function optimally, we use cookies for some of our applications. These cannot be deactivated, otherwise you will not be able to use all applications.
In order to make our website as user-friendly as possible, we have i.a. social media embedded on our website. This allows you to share content with your loved ones on the appropriate network with just a few clicks. We also use anonymous tracking technology, which gives us information about e.g. the user behavior, but also the effectiveness and ergonomics of our website. For this purpose, we also use services that may be based outside the European Union (especially in the USA), where the level of data protection may be lower than in Germany.
