Obstetric Autonomy and Informed Consent
I argue that public officials and health workers ought to respect and protect womens rights to make risky choices during childbirth. Womens rights to make treatment decisions ought to be respected even if their decisions expose their unborn children to unnecessary risks, and even if it is wrong to...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2016]
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| In: |
Ethical theory and moral practice
Year: 2016, Volume: 19, Issue: 1, Pages: 225-244 |
| IxTheo Classification: | NBE Anthropology NCH Medical ethics |
| Further subjects: | B
Informed Consent
B Rights B moral risk B Childbirth |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | I argue that public officials and health workers ought to respect and protect womens rights to make risky choices during childbirth. Womens rights to make treatment decisions ought to be respected even if their decisions expose their unborn children to unnecessary risks, and even if it is wrong to put unborn children at risk. I first defend a presumption of medical autonomy in the context of childbirth. I then draw on womens birth stories to show that womens medical autonomy is often ignored during labor. Medical interventions are performed during childbirth without womens consent. Childbirth is risky and some coercive medical interventions may be understood as attempts to protect children and to prevent mothers from acting impermissibly. However, even if it is wrong to make risky choices during childbirth, women have rights to do wrong in these cases. Therefore, coercive medical interventions are impermissible during childbirth and institutions should adopt specific protections for obstetric autonomy. |
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| ISSN: | 1572-8447 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Ethical theory and moral practice
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1007/s10677-015-9610-8 |