Mother denied an unnecessary c-section... being charged...

[hunnybumm]

My husband read this story and it made me so mad!

A woman was in labor with her 5th child. The doctor came in and told her she needed an emergency c-section. She refused and left the hospital. She went to another hospital and delivered her baby with no complications, no medications, the baby was perfectly health. The mother is now being charged with child endangerment for delying the first c-section.

I am not sure where he read it and if the details are correct because it came from my DH... but it still pisses me off. :

*ETA* Ok here is the link at CNN.com, I looked it up... it is worse than I thought. She wasn't even in labor! They wanted to do a c-section because the doctor thought the baby would be too big. There are also about 20 other cases listed at the bottom of the page.

[Hera]

It didn't sound to me like she's being charged now, just that the hospital had gotten a court order to take the baby if she wouldn't comply when she came back. As I recall from reading other articles, she was in labor when she talked with the docs at the first hospital. She trumped them by going to another hospital, and they are left looking foolish. The article is actually very pro-women's rights. It also says that the ACOG says that doctors should "refrain from doing procedures unwanted by pregnant women."

So it was a nasty situation, but hooray for that mama!

[TurboClaudia]

This couple is now pursuing legal action against the hospital for obtaining the court order and refusing to honor the mother's choice to opt against surgery. I don't know what the current status of the case is, but you might check the ICAN online site www.ican-online.org for more info.

warmly,
claudia

[Kiki Runs]

Oh my gosh! That article *is* very pro-women's rights, but how scary! That a hospital could actually be granted guardianship over someone's child? Someone who wasn't posing a threat to it at all? Wow. Slippery slope, indeed.

[nikirj]

Well, it kind of bugs me that her case is compared to those others at all. She is a healthy, mentally stable woman making a decision that not only is rational, but has been proven safe for her in the past. The hospital was ridiculous and I believe that comparing this case to the others sited in the reports (of drug addicts, etc) at all minimizes this case to some extent. Taken in itself it is a very powerful example of why doctors shouldn't have the final say in what happens to their patients - even *gasp* when they are pregnant!