[...] Pregnant Woman Ordered to Stay at Hospital Against Her Will [...]

[...] Pregnant Woman Ordered to Stay at Hospital Against Her Will [...]

In addition to the important questions raised in this post, there’s a hidden question in this situation that I haven’t seen addressed, either here or elsewhere: Why does anyone believe that this particular doctor has the “right” answer about the treatment of this patient? Doctors of skill and good will quite often disagree about the best treatment plan, just as ordinary people disagree about the best route to take from one place to another. Her request for a second opinion was appropriate and it makes no sense for the court to rubberstamp the opinion of one doctor or even one hospital. It makes even less sense to reject her appeal. What happened to due process? And what happened to the idea that individuals can be fallible in their jobs?

The really bad part of this is that she wasn’t allowed to seek a second opinion… I’m torn on how strict docs and hospitals should be in “forcing” the best care for their patients. There are mental illnesses that might prevent someone from accepting the care they need, as well as “religious beliefs” that result in a desire for inadequate care. But to not allow someone to seek a second, third, or fourth opinion from other medical professionals?

But then, maybe her water was already broken, she was several centimeters dialated, and the baby was in distress… In that case, I could understand not wanting to transfer her to another hospital. Or maybe she was “just” have a few non-progressive contractions and COULD have seen another doc without disastrous consequences. Without more details, we can’t be sure.

(I write all this from the hospital, starting on my own third week of hospital bed-rest for pre-term labor and bleeding…)

The really fun fact is that bed rest actually makes preterm birth more likely, but doctors like to pretend it doesn’t because they feel the need to “do something”.

Its easy pregnant women are women -period and their interests are the only ones that the courts should consider. I know people find that upsetting but the consequences of giving a fetus any rights are too dire. You end up with absurdities like this. You get women reported to social services for being in the middle of renovating when they happen to get pregnant. You get forced c-sections. You get doctors being given carte blanche to do what they want without regard for the woman AT ALL, and without real regard for medical standards. There is no “one size fits all” treatment solution to ANY problem. You wouldn’t recommend penicillin to a patient that is allergic even if it is a strain of bacteria that responds poorly to other drugs.

Why is it that pregnant women are allowed to be tried in “kangaroo court”? Why is their right to “confront their accusers” taken away? Basically this woman was accused of being “incompetent to make medical decisions”. The she was deemed “incapable of assisting in her own defense” without any independent testing or appearance before the court. Then, even though being found incapable of assisting in her own defense would, in most jurisdictions, make her unfit to stand trial she was tried and punished with the loss of her freedom and rights to make ANY medical decision. Not only that but her spouse (or her legally designated proxy) was denied his normal right to make medical decision if she was deemed “incapable” of making them.

These laws are absurd. There is not even one logical legal argument by which they can stand. However they just keep stacking up and making their own precedence. I don’t know why the courts refuse to seek out other medical opinions or maybe doctors are just presenting a “white wall of silence” to the courts. And I really, really do not understand why most women are content to just let it stand. It can not stand; we must not let our basic human rights to be taken away.

I left hospital bedrest against doctors orders when I was 28 pregnant with my triplets. I went home for some peace and quiet and stayed in bed! They all warned me I wouldn’t last to my 32 week goal… and they were right, I only lasted to 31 weeks 5 days! It was my choice and it was the RIGHT choice and no doctor should be allowed to tell a women to stay on hospital bedrest till they have sat in the same room for TWO months! Doctor’s often take away bathroom “privileges’ from women. Ridiculous! No thanks I am NOT using a bed pan ever when I have two perfectly good legs that can walk me 10 feet to the bathroom.

medical care in Florida is extrememly questionable to begin with. Just an FYI. My grandma was moved back to Missouri when she got sick- because the hospital she was at in Florida was seemingly tyring to kill her. She was so helpless when she got to Missouri, but within about 2 weeks of being off all the crap they had put her on in FL, she was perfect for another 3 years.