Samuel Armas's tiny hand

Doctors give little ones a hand

Samuel Armas's tiny hand reaches out of the
womb to grasp Dr. Joseph Buner's finger.

Samuel Armas's tiny hands grips Dr. Joseph P. Bruner's finger just as Bruner finishes returning him to his mother's womb.
Bruner, director of fetal diagnosis and treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, was performing a cutting-edge procedure on the 21-week-old fetus.

Bruner and Samuel's parents hope the surgery will alleviate the effects of spina bifida, a disabling birth defect in one or two of every 1,000 babies born.
Because fetuses undergoing this procedure are so young -- Samuel could not survive outside his mother's womb -- this kind of surgery is gaining attention nationwide from the medical community and the media.
The procedure, the decision of Julie and Alex Armas to have it performed, and the ethical questions surrounding it are featured in today's editions of USA Today.
During the procedure, surgeons remove the uterus from the mother, drain the amniotic fluid, perform surgery on the tiny fetus, replace everything and put the entire package back inside the mother.

The procedure on Samuel took about an hour.
Medical ethicists have raised questions about the surgery because it is not a cure for spina bifida but poses the risk of death for the fetus.
Parents who opt for the procedure say they want to do everything they can to help their children avoid a life of severe disability.