For Patients/Families

Ventilator
A machine that assists adults or children to breathe. This most often refers to newborn infants who sometimes have breathing problems so severe that they need help from a breathing machine. If your baby was born with lung problems or didn't breathe on his own he may be connected to a ventilator. Lung immaturity in prematurely born infants is the most common reason for a newborn to require a ventilator.