Prenatal Care

* Re “Does Life as a Patient Begin Even Before Patient Is Born?” Commentary, March 11:

Paul Billings is worried that a proposal under consideration by the NIH and the FDA concerning prenatal genetic care will make us think of fetuses as patients. It seems to me that this is just a matter of semantics.

Healthy babies should be the first goal of health care practitioners and parents. That means giving the best prenatal care that modern science can offer, up to and including genetic engineering when appropriate for disease prevention.

Billings is concerned that treating fetuses as patients will exact an awesome psychological toll on health care providers. I am concerned about the psychological toll on parents whose babies die or are born with diseases or deformations that could have been prevented.

Call the fetus whatever you want. Just give it the best possible opportunity for a healthy life.

MILA MARVIZON

Culver City