Re: Refusing medical treatment can get you charged with a crime?

[Guest guest]

You cannot compare women who get pregnant with fibroids to this woman.

No matter where you stand on the abortion issue, it would have been illegal

in any state in the union to perform an abortion in the 9th month for any

reason other than to save the mother's life.

This woman refused the cesarean not to save her life, but because she " didn't

want the scar " (take a look at this lady's photo and tell me how rational

that is). Therefore, her refusal to have a C-section amounted to the same thing

as an " unjustified " late-term abortion, and should never have been allowed.

This woman was verifiably mentally ill, and was therefore incapable of making

a rational decision. In my never to be humble opinion, they should have

performed the C-section w/out her consent since she was not capable of giving

it.

The difference between this and the hypothetical situation you give, is that

it is quite possible for a woman with fibroids to deliver a healthy baby.

Many women on this list have. In some instances, having a myo might even hurt

ones chances of delivering a healthy child.

The woman in the article said that she *knew* the baby would die, and she did

not care! NO sane woman (and I am sure that includes everyone here) would

knowingly get pregnant w/a fibroid if she KNEW that her baby would die. I

believe that all of the women on this list are acting in what they believe will

be

*the best interest* of their yet-to-be-conceived children.

That is the difference, and it is a *huge* one.

Elana

te: Fri, 12 Mar 2004 22:03:12 -0000

  

Subject: Refusing medical treatment can get you charged with a crime?

This really bothers me because the implications are so far reaching.

Regardless of whether or not the mother had mental illness there are

lots of women who don't want to have surgery. What next, will women

who knowingly get pregnant with fibroids and miscarry, even thought

their doctor told them to have a myo -- are they going to be charged

with murder as well?

Utah Woman Charged With Murdering Fetus

Utah Woman Who Refused a Caesarean Section Is Charged With Murdering

Fetus

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040312_740.html

[Guest guest]

I found this story a little unique myself when I first heard of it.

But I guess considering that it was a healthy fetus/child/or what

have u.... and the fetus was at a state that it could survive as long

as the proper procedure had been undergone....then it would be

considered murder, maybe they view it as a late-term abortion. i

really don't know, i'm just throwing idea out there.

i don't believe that if a woman w/fibroids that miscarry would be

charged w/murder as well....but if that woman was pregnant w/fibroids

and the baby was healthy and they were having complications allowing

the child to be born vaginally, and the mother refused to have a C-

section to remove the child, then I think they could charge one

w/murder. still sorta strange though.

What next, will women who knowingly get pregnant with fibroids and miscarry,

even thought their doctor told them to have a myo -- are they going to be

charged with murder as well?

> http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040312_740.html

[Guest guest]

How can they be so positive the baby would have survived if she had

had a c-section? Since when are the experts beyond human in accurate

predictions of life and death? Maybe this could go the other way

too.... When I was 18 (I'm now 53), I was admitted to the hospital,

26 weeks pregnant, and delivered a stillborn. The altopsy showed

nothing was wrong with the fetus. Medical records show when I was

admitted (I arrived by ambulance) they could hear a heartbeat. So

who's to say the baby wouldn't have lived if they had done an

emergency C-section? Should every woman have a C-section, just in

case her baby can't survive a vaginal birth? Is this whole thing

leading to more unecessary C-sections because it's quicker and

easier, and safer for the baby? What about the mother? If things go

that way, then you can also run into babys that survive but mothers

that die during major abdominal surgery, leading to motherless

children who grow up in a state of depression. Gee, and did they

even bother to tell her she'd be charged with murder? How can they

positively know she would have survived the surgery herself? How

about this one....sorry miss but if you don't have a c-section and

your baby dies, you'll be up against a murder charge. Seems to me

that perhaps we should be taking it out of the hands of the surgeons

and put it back into the hands of mother nature instead of telling

women what they must or must not do with their pregnancys and their

bodies. Sorry for the rant, but you hit a tender spot and I had to

say ouch....

Gerri

> What next, will women who knowingly get pregnant with fibroids and

miscarry, even thought their doctor told them to have a myo -- are

they going to be

> charged with murder as well?

> > http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040312_740.html