Often times, babies born premature are more susceptible to birth injuries such as cerebral palsy. Birth injuries are also commonly the result of mistakes made by the doctors or nurses before, during, or immediately after the baby's birth.

The state of Kentucky is currently considering an application from St. Elizabeth Healthcare in Edgewood, Kentucky, to create an intensive care unit for premature newborns. However, officials at the University of Kentucky Medical Center are attempting to block the hospital from doing so.

The executive vice president for Health Affairs at the UK Medical Center said that its opposition to the northern Kentucky hospital building the ICU is not business related. He said that studies show that babies are more likely to die at hospitals that care for fewer than 50 babies per year, which he presumed St. Elizabeth would. He said that the effort to fight the new ICU for premature newborns is purely out of concern for the children.

The chief executive officer of St. Elizabeth responded by saying that the hospital does plan on caring for more than 50 infant patients per year. He said that the hospital is seeking to build the ICU to encourage mothers in the Northern Kentucky area to stay in the state to deliver their babies, rather than going to out-of-state hospitals that offer more advanced services.

He said the St. Elizabeth system currently tends to 5,000 births a year throughout its six locations, and he is unaware of any other hospital in the country that has that many births that does not offer this level of care.

Premature births appear to be on the rise nationwide as more women opt to schedule deliveries. Currently, 12 percent of births in the United States are premature, while 15 percent of the births in Kentucky are premature.

Whether the new ICU for premature babies is allowed to be built or not, what matters is that quality care is given to infants as they enter the world. Mistakes made during this vital time can be extremely costly and lead to permanent injury to the baby.

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader, "UK's efforts to block N. Ky. neonatal care 'not a business issue'," Mary Meehan, 3/30/2011.