This is unbelievable.  The expedient medical myth of insensitive infants
was conclusively debunked years ago.  Is anyone minding the store??

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061207/hl_afp/swedenhealthresearch_061207165838

Newborns probably able to feel pain

Thu Dec 7, 11:58 AM ET

Many doctors refrain from giving newborns pain relief during surgical
procedures in the belief that they do not feel pain, but new research
shows this could be wrong, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said.

"New measurement techniques show that even premature babies display
all the signs of a conscious experience of pain," the research
institute said in a statement, citing a doctoral thesis by
Italian-Swedish researcher Marco Bartocci.

"For many years, doctors have assumed that foetuses, premature
babies and fully developed newborn babies do not have the cerebral
cortical functions required to feel pain," it said Thursday.

"Babies' reactions to potentially painful stimuli have been explained
away as unconscious reflexes and so doctors have felt it justified
to withhold painkillers during surgery and the like so as to avoid
adverse reactions," the institute said.

But Bartocci's research shows that the brains of premature babies
are far more developed than previously thought.

His studies "using infrared spectroscopy ... show that pain signals
from a pin prick are processed in the cerebral cortex of premature
babies in the same way as in adults."

This indicates that "all known pre-conditions for the conscience
experience of pain are present, even though this still does not
provide any conclusive evidence that they actually undergo a
subjective painful experience."

The results of the study, which have been published in the scientific
journal Pain, are expected to have "a major impact on pain-relief
management for newborn babies as well as on approaches to child
development in general," the institute said.

The public defence of the doctoral thesis will be held on Friday.

Copyright  2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AFP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written
authority of Agence France Presse.  Copyright  2006 Yahoo! Inc. All
rights reserved.  Questions or Comments Privacy Policy -Terms of
Service - Copyright/IP Policy - Ad Feedback