In the wake of the "Baby Doe" controversy over the right of newborns with birth defects to medical treatment, a controversy triggered by the birth of the severely impaired "Baby Doe" in a Bloomington, Indiana, hospital in April 1982, Congress weighed legislation mandating such treatment. Koop, who had pioneered several surgical procedures to correct previously incurable birth defects, testified before Congress on the need to protect the medical rights of newborns when medical opinion about a child's chance of survival and of attaining a fulfilling life is divided.
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