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“Bed blocker” preemies can catch up |
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Premature babies who require months of expensive intensive care in neonatal units have been labelled “bed-blockers” by one of Britain’s Royal Colleges of Medicine, Sarah-Kate Templeton reported in The Sunday Times 26 March 2006.
In February the Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) reported Canadian research into the development of 166 premature babies born in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s (Washington Times, 8 February 2006). By early adulthood they had reached levels of education and employment that were similar to those of normal-weight children.
The JAMA editorial commented that most of the babies were white and from economically stable two-parent families, and their health care was assured by Canada’s National Health care system. A study in Cleveland, Ohio, had shown different outcomes for the premature babies.
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