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novapsycheCan law force C-section?
Those of us who have chronicled the ups and downs of everything from thalidomide to hormones know that medicine is not infallible. We are even wary of ordering parents to follow the doctor's prescription for, say, chemotherapy for their children.
At the same time, no court has ever ruled that one person can be forcibly operated on for the benefit of another.
The law cannot demand that you give up your kidney or bone marrow or even blood to save another life. Even your toddler's. Nor does it charge you with murder if you refuse.
So, does only a pregnant woman lose the right to refuse treatment?
Is she the only one who loses the guarantee to make medical decisions for herself and her fetus?
The abortion debate has discolored every argument. But this is not about abortion. As Paltrow asks, "What value is there in making every pregnancy a crime waiting to happen based on every post-birth analysis by doctors?"
Melissa Ann Rowland is no poster child for maternity. But if she can be charged with murder, then any other pregnant woman can be watched, monitored, doctored by the police.
That's not a very pretty picture.
Those of us who have chronicled the ups and downs of everything from thalidomide to hormones know that medicine is not infallible. We are even wary of ordering parents to follow the doctor's prescription for, say, chemotherapy for their children.
At the same time, no court has ever ruled that one person can be forcibly operated on for the benefit of another.
The law cannot demand that you give up your kidney or bone marrow or even blood to save another life. Even your toddler's. Nor does it charge you with murder if you refuse.
So, does only a pregnant woman lose the right to refuse treatment?
Is she the only one who loses the guarantee to make medical decisions for herself and her fetus?
The abortion debate has discolored every argument. But this is not about abortion. As Paltrow asks, "What value is there in making every pregnancy a crime waiting to happen based on every post-birth analysis by doctors?"
Melissa Ann Rowland is no poster child for maternity. But if she can be charged with murder, then any other pregnant woman can be watched, monitored, doctored by the police.
That's not a very pretty picture.