RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Attitudes of paediatric and obstetric specialists towards prenatal surgery for lethal and non-lethal conditions JF Journal of Medical Ethics JO J Med Ethics FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Institute of Medical Ethics SP medethics-2017-104377 DO 10.1136/medethics-2017-104377 A1 Ryan M Antiel A1 Farr A Curlin A1 John D Lantos A1 Christopher A Collura A1 Alan W Flake A1 Mark P Johnson A1 Natalie E Rintoul A1 Stephen D Brown A1 Chris Feudtner YR 2017 UL http://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2017/10/10/medethics-2017-104377.abstract AB Background While prenatal surgery historically was performed exclusively for lethal conditions, today intrauterine surgery is also performed to decrease postnatal disabilities for non-lethal conditions. We sought to describe physicians’ attitudes about prenatal surgery for lethal and non-lethal conditions and to elucidate characteristics associated with these attitudes.Methods Survey of 1200 paediatric surgeons, neonatologists and maternal–fetal medicine specialists (MFMs).Results Of 1176 eligible physicians, 670 (57%) responded (range by specialty, 54%–60%). In the setting of a lethal condition for which prenatal surgery would likely result in the child surviving with a severe disability, most respondents either disagreed (59%) or strongly disagreed (19%) that they would recommend the surgery. Male physicians were twice as likely to recommend surgery for the lethal condition, as were physicians who believe that abortion is morally wrong (OR 1.75; 95% CI 1.0 to 3.05). Older physicians were less likely to recommend surgery (OR 0.57; 95% CI 0.36 to 0.88). For non-lethal conditions, most respondents agreed (66% somewhat, 4% strongly) that they would recommend prenatal surgery, even if the surgery increases the risk of prematurity or fetal death. Compared with MFMs, surgeons were less likely to recommend such surgery, as were physicians not affiliated with a fetal centre, and physicians who were religious (ORs range from 0.45 to 0.64).Conclusion Physician’s attitudes about prenatal surgery relate to physicians’ beliefs about disability as well as demographic, cultural and religious characteristics. Given the variety of views, parents are likely to receive different recommendations from their doctors about the preferable treatment choice.