Birth choice

3rd February 2005

Categories : Medicine, News, Obstetrics |

The Age today has a story about a woman in Queensland who was reported to welfare authorities because she refused to have a repeat Caesarean birth despite medical advice or attend antenatal classes, and ended up having a ‘natural’ birth (luckily for her). I have mixed feelings about this - certainly she ignored valid medical advice about the high risk to mother and baby of having a normal labour after 2 previous Caesareans. If she were my patient I would certainly give the same advice and find it incredibly frustrating and disturbing if she then ignored it, however one must respect the patient’s autonomy and right to choose about their medical treatment, even if they make what I would consider to be a bad choice. As long as she is fully informed about the risks then ultimately she can’t be forced to do anything. I’m sure the “natural” birth, anti-obstetrics brigade will be up in arms supporting her in this also.

Another interesting facet to this story is that the welfare agencies are acting with the interests of the child in mind, even though the child was not born when the woman made her decision. It seems a bit inconsistent that this baby attracted that sort of legal protection when the re-ignited abortion debate is currently simmering again - people may well ask why the 80,000 plus aborted foetuses every year don’t get any similar protection? I’m sure that the pro-lifers (like this guy whose blog I stumbled across today) will seize upon this story as well. Interesting how one story can have so many particular moral issues for people to latch on to if they want.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 at 9:04 am and is filed under Medicine, News, Obstetrics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

1 On September 30th, 2006, ac mase CNM said:

Hmmm. I see this happening all the time in the US as well. If a baby is killed in the womb, let’s say in a domestic dispute, charges are filed that the child was murdered. Indeed, it was. There is a dichotomy here…. very convenient.

As for this VBAC. Was she offered a VBAC after her first C/S? Just curious. There is always an increased risk after uterine surgery. Always. If she was given the information and decided to proceed with “natural” childbirth. That is her choice. Breech birth could be compared to this situation. The research indicates that there is increased morbidity for breeches born vaginally…. but people still choose to do it. Although, there is also research that indicates IF the birth attendant KNOWS what they are doing…. their is not a difference. Hmmm.

Bottom line. Her choice. She would definitely not be a candidate for a home birth and would certainly need extensive monitoring…… glad it all turned out for the best.