Listening to the Unborn: Prozac Baby - Diary of a Fetus



Review of the new book authored by Prof. Gidi Koren, illustrated by Judith Asher

Prozac Baby is an original and surprising novel, told by an unborn baby, who discovers that his mother intends to abort him due to her fears that the Prozac she is taking may harm her baby.

This is not a science fiction book, but rather based on the reality and practice of Gideon Koren, a professor of pediatrics, pharmacology, pharmacy and medical genetics at the university of Toronto, and the director of the Motherisk program which counsels expecting women and their health care providers on the safety and risks of drugs in pregnancy.
I doubt whether there is in the world literature another novel that invites the reader to enter the mysterious and unknown world of the fetus through the unborn's own vision. While current technology allows medicine to follow up fetal development, identify malformations and even repair some of them, there is no instrument that can enter the unborn's brain,soul and mind and reflect his thoughts, anxieties, hopes and wishes.
Gidi Koren's novel is told by the unborn baby. With his pen, the author rendered his fetus the cognitive and emotional abilities that allow him to tell his story. This is not science fiction ,but rather the day to day clinical and scientific reality of the author, a physician and scientist practicing maternal-fetal toxicology.
Gidi Koren's fetus is a serious human being, aware of its limitations, curious and in full contact with what is going on outside. When he discovers to his shock that his mother intends to abort him due to fears of the medication she is taking in pregnancy, he feels powerless as he has no means to communicate with his mother and father.
Prozac Baby is a highly engaging story from the start to the end, which is not necessarily clear or predictable. This is original literature at its best, touching, invoking laugh and tears, and very cathartic.
Nili Carmel- Yonatan

Years after Canadian researchers sounded the alarm about the dangers of prescribing codeine-based painkillers after surgery, children are still dying because of the practice.