Preface.

• Author: Bopp, James, Jr.

In the lead article, University of Groningen law professor Sofia Moratti, J.D., D.Phil., begins by discussing the concepts of "medical futility" and "quality of Life," and the regulation of non-treatment decisions in Dutch neonatology. The regulations include a list of criteria for predicting the baby's future quality of life. The second part presents the findings from interviews with fourteen Dutch neonatologists on the manner in which they apply the criteria in their practice. Dr. Moratti concludes the professional standards permit differing interpretations of "quality of life" by individual doctors. Whether a particular infant with disabilities receives life-sustaining treatment or dies is dependent on a variety of factors, especially the opinion of the treating physician, not a binding legal standard.

The second article, by Nehaluddin Ahmad, M.A., LL.B., LL.M., LL.M., LL.D., Islamic University professor of law, Malaysia, examines the common practice of female feticide of nearly one million females annually in India and the drastic reduction of females as a proportion of the population. Dr. Ahmad discusses the socio-legal conundrum female feticide presents, as well as the consequences of having too few women in Indian society. Female infanticide is still common and has existed for a long time. But now technological advancements in prenatal sex determination on a large scale since the 1990s makes feticide the more common practice in Indian society for limiting the number daughters. In India, it is a crime to abort a pregnancy solely because the fetus is female, but this law has little positive impact on this abhorrent practice in a country where most abortions occur in private clinics and most births take place at home.

The Verbatim section continues with chapters XV through XX of Dr. Richard Fenigsen's new book Other People's...