Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Protecting unborn children by detaining negligent mothers
What do people think of this case:
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) - Samantha Burton wanted to leave the hospital. Her doctor strongly disagreed, enough to go to court to keep her there.
She smoked cigarettes during the first six months of her pregnancy and was admitted on a false alarm of premature labor. Her doctor argued she was risking a miscarriage if she didn't quit smoking immediately and stay on bed rest in the hospital, and a judge agreed.
Three days after the judge ordered her not to leave the hospital, Burton delivered a stillborn fetus by cesarian-section.
And six months after the pregnancy ended, the dispute over the legal move to keep her in the hospital continues, raising questions about where a mother's right to decide her own medical treatment ends and where the priority of protecting a fetus begins.. . .
Any thoughts? Comments are open (and, of course, subject to monitoring).
https://mirrorofjustice.blogs.com/mirrorofjustice/2010/01/protecting-unborn-children-by-detaining-negligent-mothers.html
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If the hospital had succeeded in saving the baby's life then the legal aspects may have been as clear cut as your excerpt attempts to make them, but from what I read (*) the hospital may not have been the best place to save that baby's life. Please don't use this case to make any legal arguments for coercive care - second guessing all expectant mothers is NOT the legal strategy I think we "women deserve better" fans of natural law are looking for....
___*[Burton] didn’t want an abortion, had obtained prenatal care and voluntarily went to the hospital after experiencing symptoms she’d been told to look out for, he said. But she didn’t like the care she received at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital. She said her doctor, Jana Bures-Foresthoefel, was brusque and overbearing…The mother said she wanted the option to seek care at another hospital or to go home so she could care for her two daughters. “I was desperately hoping to receive the care I needed to save my baby,” Burton wrote in her statement. “However, after a few days there, I did not feel I was receiving the care I needed, and instead of being allowed to leave or go to another hospital, I found myself being ordered by a judge to stay at Tallahassee Memorial and submit to all medical care from its hospital staff, whether I agreed or not.”
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/48595.html#more-48595