A chapter in Andy Whitelaw’s memoir is called “Brainwashing (literally)”. Flushing out blood clots from a newborn’s brain to prevent damage was just one technique evolved by the pioneering neonatologist, who has died aged 79. Among his other innovations was temporarily cooling oxygen-deprived newborns to prevent brain damage.
In the 1970s, when Whitelaw began his career, he said the human brain was largely a mysterious “black box”. But improvements in scanning technology made it possible to discover (and therefore treat) conditions in babies that would otherwise have only been found at autopsy, after the baby had died.
