Mermaid Musings

I started writing this post last month and got interrupted, so I’m picking it up today.  Apologies for tardiness!

I read this posting from the National Advocates for Pregnant Women today. And while I don’t know all the details of the case, I found the concept of it highly disturbing. The short of it is that a woman in New Jersey went against medical advice and refused to give her consent for a cesarean section. Her baby was born vaginally and in good health - proving that she did not, in fact, need an operation. However, the hospital staff apparently called in child protective services and accused the mother of medical abuse. The state took action and stripped the woman of her parental rights.

The New Jersey court ruled that there was ‘ample other evidence’ of abuse and neglect to justify the state taking her baby away but that it could not rule that simply refusal to submit to surgery was sufficient to declare this woman an unfit mother. So, that latter part of the ruling is heartening - especially given the over-use of cesareans in this country. Could you imagine the cesarean rate if women were threatened with losing their babies for refusing? Or maybe even suggesting that it might not be necessary?

In a related story, a couple in the Pacific Northwest was recently acquitted of manslaughter of their infant daughter who was denied medical treatment because her parents believed in ‘faith healing.’ These two cases really exemplify the tricky-ness of involving the state in personal medical decisions.

On the one hand, a young girl died because her parents didn’t believe in using modern medicine to save her but they are exonerated of any blame and on the other, a woman makes a decision about her body and her pregnancy, which turns out to be a good decision, but because the doctors and medical staff disagreed with her decision, she is judged to be an ‘unfit’ mother.

And all I can say is ‘huh?’