Ethics round table: choice and autonomy in obstetrics
Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Decisions about how and where they deliver their baby are extremely important to pregnant women. There are very strong ethical norms that women's autonomy should be respected, and that plans around birth should be personalised. However, there appear to be profound challenges in practice to respecting women's choices in pregnancy and labour. Choices carry risks and consequences-to the woman and her child; also potentially to her caregivers and to other women.What does it mean for women's autonomy to be respected in obstetrics? How should health professionals respond to refusals of treatment or requests for care outside normal guidelines? What are the ethical limits to autonomy? In this clinical ethics round table, service users, midwives, obstetricians, philosophers and ethicists respond to two hypothetical cases drawn from real-life scenarios.
Source: Journal of Medical Ethics
Language: English
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Awards: G2146308499, Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, ANTITHESES: A Discovery Platform for Transformative Inclusivity in Ethics and Humanities Research, ANTITHESES: A Discovery Platform for Transformative Inclusivity in Ethics and Humanities Research, The Wellcome Centre for Ethics, Innovation, Globalisation and Medicine, G3451430574, Expanding Autonomy: Scaffolded, Embedded and Distributed, G4350371069
OpenAlex ID: W4404849668