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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Jen Star on June 25, 2005, at 19:12:50
hi all,
I was just watching the news. They said a woman is suing her doctor b/c they never alerted her that her baby was going to be deformed, and she consequently gave birth to a baby that was severely deformed and who died in pain 2 weeks later. She is suing for "wrongful birth" and says the condition, which showed up easily on a sonogram, was not correctly diagnosed. She would have chosen to abort the baby had she known, to save pain/suffering for the baby and herself.Do you think people should be allowed to sue for "wrongful birth?"
Should she get monetary comp. from the doctor & hospital?
To me it seems strange. I don't know what to think about this!
JenStar
Posted by Tamar on June 25, 2005, at 19:43:09
In reply to question about birth the law *possible trigger**, posted by Jen Star on June 25, 2005, at 19:12:50
When I first saw your post I doubted there could be any legal basis for this kind of action.
However, it occurred to me that there could be a legal basis for an action if doctors deliberately concealed test results in order to prevent a woman from having a termination, or if there were negligence in the woman's care that failed to diagnose a deformity.
Whether it's right or wrong to sue for wrongful birth is a complex question, but as long as the law is how it is, I suppose there needs to be some legal protection from medical neglience during pregnancy.
My personal view is that if birth defects are suspected or diagnosed the woman should be told. I say this after having gone through two high risk pregnancies in which my chances of having a deformed baby were much higher than average. I was lucky; my babies were perfect. Not everyone is as lucky as I was.
Tamar
Posted by justyourlaugh on June 25, 2005, at 20:41:03
In reply to Re: question about birth the law *possible trigger** » Jen Star, posted by Tamar on June 25, 2005, at 19:43:09
great question for the faith board..
intervention into gods will...
j
Posted by Tamar on June 25, 2005, at 20:48:42
In reply to Re: question about birth the law *possible trigger**, posted by justyourlaugh on June 25, 2005, at 20:41:03
> great question for the faith board..
> intervention into gods will...
> jMaybe so! I saw the main question as whether the woman should be told if she is carrying a baby with birth defects. Is that also a question for faith?
Posted by anastasia56 on June 26, 2005, at 1:42:55
In reply to Re: question about birth the law *possible trigger**, posted by Tamar on June 25, 2005, at 20:48:42
wouldn't the fetus have to be at a certain stage of development in order for any deformities to be evident? and wouldn't that stage be past the legal abortion point?
Posted by Tamar on June 26, 2005, at 7:51:54
In reply to Re: question about birth the law *possible trigger**, posted by anastasia56 on June 26, 2005, at 1:42:55
> wouldn't the fetus have to be at a certain stage of development in order for any deformities to be evident? and wouldn't that stage be past the legal abortion point?
It depends on the deformity and on local policy about which tests and sonograms are done at which point during pregnancy. And it depends also on the law wherever the woman happens to be.
As far as I can tell, in places where elective abortion is legal it continues to be legal for health reasons well past the time at which most deformities can be picked up.
So in most cases where abortion is legal a woman would know that her baby has a deformity in time to have an abortion.
The crucial question, in my view, is whether the woman is told of any suspected or diagnosed deformity, whatever the stage of her pregnancy and whatever the local abortion laws. I believe doctors should not withhold that kind of information from women.
Posted by jazzed on June 26, 2005, at 10:23:27
In reply to question about birth the law *possible trigger**, posted by Jen Star on June 25, 2005, at 19:12:50
>
> Do you think people should be allowed to sue for "wrongful birth?"
>
> Should she get monetary comp. from the doctor & hospital?
>Hey Jen,
This is so highly personal, it's just so hard to say morally whether someone should, could, or would sue for something like this. Legally I guess it's more clear depending on the medical records.
Like Tamar, I had a good possibility of having problems with our last child. I opted not to know. With all of my kids, I opted not to have the tests that would show birth defects. Some ppl aren't equiped emotionally to do deal with a child who has health problems, and I can certainly understand that POV, it's so personal. I feel so blessed to have normal, healthy children, and at this stage of my life, I don't think I could deal with a child with serious health issues, or the birth of a deformed child.
I guess the need to know is different for everyone. The right to know is everyone's now, and then, at what point serious defects can be accurately detected, esp. on sonogram, is another issue. From what I understand sonograms can be highly inaccurate. I know personally, that they can show defects that aren't there, and I'm sure they can be inaccurate the other way - e.g. my daughter's heart issue didn't show up. The other testing that's offered to pregnant women, which is very accurate, from what I understand is neccessary to tell if there are bd's. Those tests are always offered, you have to sign forms to decline them. Wonder if she had those tests.
IMO suing doctors has gotten out of hand, and is a big reason why healthcare/insurance is such a mess these days. Doctors are afraid to do their job, esp. ob/gyn's. Of course, when you are on the receiving end of what is bad healthcare, then you want justice, esp. in a case like this which is so loaded, and I can understand that 100%. You would never want to suffer from bad healthcare, and esp. wouldn't want an innocent little baby to suffer a horrible existance for any length of time.
Of course, from another angle, it's not the doctors fault that the baby was deformed. But how much did he know, and did he intentionally not disclose? I would guess that any doctor who delivers an unhealthy baby feels horrible. Our 2nd child was born, and wisked off to children's hosp., they weren't sure she was going to live, they thought she had a bad heart defect, but after a time in the hosp. she was fine. They made an error, and ruled on the side of caution. The thought of implicating the doctor or hosp. in any way never entered my mind. All of this is a whole different issue, one that personally I would hope I could look at if I were in this predicament.
Right now I know of a young woman who is pregnant, and for reasons beyond her control, she has no health insurance. She had a serious medical event that landed her in the hospital, in ICU, and all the hospital could think of what that she was a liability to them. They said, within earshot of her parents, that they had to "get rid of her" because of the liability involved. They didn't want a sick mom who could possibly lose a baby while in their care. They refused to check the health and wellbeing of the baby because of that. To me, this is beyond sad that things have come to this, not to mention the lack of empathy on the part of healthcare providers.
We'll never know what really happened in this particular instance, what the real facts are on the doctor's end. Did he know, and choose to not disclose, or if he really didn't disclose, or if he offered further testing, or if he really didn't know, or if you can even really know with 100% accuracy, esp. with sonograms. I wouldn't want to be the woman, and I wouldn't want to be the doctor, that's for sure.
Sorry for rambling on and on!
Jazzy
Posted by sunny10 on June 27, 2005, at 12:51:29
In reply to Re: question about birth the law *possible trigger** » Jen Star, posted by jazzed on June 26, 2005, at 10:23:27
"First do no harm".
It is harmful for any doctor to withhold information from a patient.
What the patient does with that knowledge becomes a question of ethics and morality.
This is the end of the thread.
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