Embryatrics: Transfusions in the Womb

A new medical specialty is developing. Not yet officially recognized, it is embryatrics: the treatment of the baby still in the womb. Conceived little more than a year ago in Auckland, New Zealand, it is now being practiced on four continents in the hope of saving fetuses endangered by Rh incompatibility. And if its pioneers' hopes are fulfilled, embryatrics will eventually be extended to the treatment and prevention of other handicapping or fatal conditions.

Ever since the days of Hippocrates the womb has been regarded as a privileged sanctuary in which the fetus was...