On November 23, 1993, Doe was seen by an obstetrician, Dr. James Meserow, at the St. Joseph’s Hospital in Chicago. This was the first time Doe was seen by Dr. Meserow, but she had been receiving regular prenatal care throughout her pregnancy. Upon giving Doe the usual check-up, he determined from a series of tests that the baby was under duress due to an issue with the placenta. At this point, it is important to recognize that Doe is a mentally competent woman carrying her first child, and the fetus is currently around 35 weeks. It also important to recognize that Dr. Meserow is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist. Dr. Meserow informs both Doe and her husband of the diagnosis and highly recommends either an immediate cesarean section or to induce labor in order to prevent any further potential damage to the fetus due to the lack of oxygen from the compromised placenta. Doe refuses both of the recommendations based on her religious convictions that God will heal her child and keep it safe from any harm, and will, therefore, wait to have a natural childbirth.
On December 8, 1993, 14 days after the recommendation of a cesarean section or induced labor, Doe is examined again by Dr. Meserow, and he is still holding fast to his diagnosis. Doe continues to state that she refuses on the grounds of religious reasons. However, Doe agrees to be seen by another doctor the following day. That same day, December 8, 1993, Dr. Meserow and the St. Joseph’s Hospital call the
The author of the article is Carla Keirns who currently works and does research at Stony Brook University in New York. She calls herself a physician, clinical ethicist, teacher and health policy researcher (Keirns 178). The article presents her medical experience: she was a medical student, had internship in Philadelphia’s maternity ward and assisted at a number of cesareans. Her fellow-students are obstetricians, pediatricians, physicians, MFM specialists who she consulted when pregnant. So, Carla Keirns is a health professional who is involved in medical issues.
The patient is visibly distressed and reports significant anxiety over the implications of being pregnant on her relationship with her parents and religious beliefs because the child was conceived outside of wedlock. The patient acknowledged that she was likely raped, however, she is hesitant to formally accuse the perpetrator since her friends in the church group “acted as though everything was great” following the attack. Further information about the perpetrator, as well as information about her existing support system was not obtained.
This particular case study involves a 29 year old obstetric patient who presented to the labor and delivery unit at 33 weeks gestation with complaints of abdominal pain for the past three days that had become more severe and absence of fetal movement noted since the previous evening. Her obstetric history revealed she has one living child and has had one previous miscarriage at ten weeks
In the article “Did a baby really ‘kick through’ her mother’s uterus?” by senior writer, Rachael Rettner, I learned about a chinese mother whose unborn baby ostensibly “kicked” through her uterus, according to multiple news reports. This was an extremely life-threatening complication because it can result in blood loss and organ failure in the mother. It can also lead to suffocation in the fetus. This results in giving doctors just ten to forty minutes to deliver the baby without inevitable harm being done to the newborn.
She believed that men were at fault for her stillborn children and continued to use the same birthing techniques (Smith 65). For her eleventh pregnancy, she went to a hospital and had a doctor deliver the baby, and for the first time the child lived (Smith 438). Sissy’s abundance of stillbirths may be due to the fact that, “Women who’ve already had one stillbirth have a four times higher risk of having another stillbirth compared to women who’ve had a live birth” (Reinberg par 1). Along with stillbirths, there were also high numbers of infant mortalities in the early 1900s (Louis par 6). Doctors did not know the causes of stillbirths and instead focused on preventing infant mortality (Louis par 6). Due to the lack of knowledge concerning stillbirths, they were a common occurrence (Louis par 7). In 1909, about one hundred seven out every one thousand children died (Pryce par 1). Researchers now know that the leading causes of stillbirths and infant mortality and the turn of the twentieth century were poor environment, diet, and hygiene due to poverty (Pryce par 2). Sissy’s poverty and previous stillbirths provide evidence that Betty Smith accurately described infant mortality and stillbirth in the early twentieth century in A Tree Grows in
A woman goes into labor and her husband wheels her into a hospital, to the labor and delivery unit. It is her first time having a baby and she is scared, and not completely sure what to expect. About seven hours later, the nurse and the doctor tell her that she is 6 centimeters dilated and not progressing in her labor, and that if she is ready, the nurses can give her Pitocin which intensifies labor and call the anesthesiologist to give her an epidural. Terrified and more than willing to listen to the medical professionals telling her what to do, she agrees to what they say. She successfully delivers, but not before her blood pressure rises and the baby’s heart rate drops, which is a side effect of the drug Pitocin. Because of the distress
Bonnie performed a self-administered pregnancy test with the results being positive. I shared the conception date and the approximate date of delivery. Nevertheless, Bonnie continued to stress abortion as her only choice; therefore, I suggested an ultrasound scan. An ultrasound scan does not use radiation; therefore, making it a safe method for viewing a developing fetus.
It was an ordinary winter day in the city of Lynn, Massachusetts. As people headed to work and school they looked forward to the adventures the weekend would bring the next day. However, not so far away, Henry Rosario and his wife, Wendy Contreras, waited anxiously in their apartment knowing that the moment that would change their lives forever was near. “As my first daughter it was very painful, scary, and anxious” (Contreras interview). After waiting for what seemed like forever, they decided to go to Salem Hospital. Once they arrived, however, they were told by the doctor that she was not was not ready to deliver yet and was sent back home. At home, Wendy paced around the living room in agony waiting for the moment to come so she could get
Proponents of punishing pregnant women, who put their fetuses at risk, have highlighted some pertinent legal and ethical issues. One is that a viable fetus (fetus after 27 weeks gestation) has certain rights and privileges. They are of the opinion that as soon as the fetus is viable and can survive independently from it mother, it becomes a
In the 25th week of her pregnancy, the mother was advised by the nurse to remain on bed rest to avoid further complications and potentially hurting her unborn baby. The mother continued to work from the hospital placing additional stress on the baby despite the nurse’s appeal that such stress can cause the baby harm. Attempts to stop premature delivery were made but failed, the mother asked the medical team not to take any extraordinary measure to save the baby. The premature baby lived but the mother showed little interest in his health and wellness. The nurse tried to the best of her ability to spark
Pro-life and Pro-choice groups, are mainly at odds determining what stage a fetus is considered a human being, there is no wonder that this is an ongoing subject with no middle ground in sight. But, regardless of the various opinions, the patient’s quality of care should not be compromised.
Registered Nurse Brenda Shafer recounts a particular abortion where the doctor, "delivered the baby's body and the arms-- everything but the head. The doctor kept the baby's head just inside the uterus. The baby's little fingers were clasping and unclasping, and his feet were kicking. Then the doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby's arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks that he might fall. The doctor opened up the scissors, stuck a high-powered suction tube into the opening and sucked the baby's brains out. Now the baby was completely limp" (Johnson). If a newborn baby was treated this way it would be considered murder and so should this. As pointed out by Mary E. Williams, those that are against late-term abortions maintain that "it is a grisly and immoral procedure akin to infanticide" and as physicians M. Leroy Sprang and Mark G. Neerhoff claim, "the procedure is hardly ever performed as a result of a medical emergency" for "the vast majority are done not in response to extreme medical conditions but on healthy mothers and healthy fetuses" (13). Most mothers who are unable to carry their babies to full term due to illness or injury would be offered a much more caring and humane way to end the pregnancy. Dr. Curtis Cook, an OB/GYN physician in West Michigan stated that partial birth abortion "is never necessary to preserve the life or
The onset of her labor was on a Saturday morning. She thought she had had too many tacos, but then she lost her mucus plug. Labor was slow because her cervix would not dilate. She went to the hospital more than once, but the maternity ward would not admit her because her cervix was stuck at two centimeters. The obstetrics staff advised her to walk around which she did. She took multiple hot baths to help with the pain. She was in labor and awake on and off from Saturday morning until Monday night when she finally gave birth at Kaiser hospital in Riverside, California.
According to the findings by Mariotti (2012), the psychosocial and emotional components are an integral part of every woman’s pregnancy, and she can make decisions of whether to sustain life in her own uterus or end it (p. 269). At the same time, numerous studies have questioned the personhood of the fetus to provide well-evidenced approaches to evaluation of its social and legal status. Does a woman provide it with all necessary resources and substances like a donor? Does she have a right to extract it from her body in case she does not want to give it life, has some health care issues that put her and the baby at risk, or carries a fetus that was the result of a rape? All those questions are easier to ask than answer, but women should have the right to do with their body everything they want.
A recently married couple is happily almost five months pregnant with a baby girl. The mother is a diabetic and the plan has always been to deliver the baby one month early. They recently visited with their obstetrician a couple of weeks ago for routine testing. The doctor informed the couple that their baby is seriously defective which goes on to state that, even if she were to go to term the baby would not survive but a couple hours or days. The doctor believes since the mother is diabetic, it is best to induce her as soon as possible since the baby has nothing to lose and will not live long anyways (Grisez, 1997, question 48).