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Sat 29 Jul, 2017 08:34 am
Women in labor has developed complication. To Save the child the doctor recommended cesarean section but the woman refuses? What is ethical: deprive mother of free choice to save the baby or respect mother’s choice and sacrifice the baby?
@DJhay,
Not having a Cesarean section will kill her, too. Suggest (fast) consultation with Psych to determine whether she is competent.
One hopes this isn't the way doctors at bedsides make their decisions these days. I know smartphones have made our lives easier in so many ways, but still... (Yes, I know this is a student doing his/her ethics homework).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3594862/
http://blog.practicalethics.ox.ac.uk/2013/12/caesarean-sections-autonomy-and-consent/
As the second linked article says,
Quote:The UK has a very firm legal stance on this matter, following a precedent set in St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust v S (1998). In this case, a woman was forced to undergo a Caesarean section despite the fact that she refused to give consent to the procedure having understood all the relevant facts. Her refusal was based on a belief that pregnancy is a natural process which ought to be allowed to take its course whatever the outcome. The judge ruled in her favour, pointing out that:
[An unborn child’s] need for medical assistance does not prevail over [the mother’s] rights. She is entitled not to be forced to submit to an invasion of her body against her will, whether her own life or that of her unborn child depends on it.
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