Ethical decision-making in neonatal intensive care

This chapter, situated within the field of medical humanities, is based on an ethnographic study conducted in a French neonatal intensive care unit. It examines how technical, medical, and organizational innovations have created a temporal space of uncertainty conducive to ethical reflection. Within a legal framework that mandates collegiality, multidisciplinarity, and traceability, decisions to limit or discontinue active therapies mobilize medical, social, and psychological logics. The analysis of three clinical cases demonstrates that recognizing the newborn as a subject depends on the team&s;s ability to organize discussion and sustain a situational approach. In the face of tensions, contextual leadership emerges as the key guarantor of the ethical functioning of the organization and the legitimacy of the decisions made.