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I really didn't intend for this thread to be an abortion debate.
I am curious if anyone who has had a baby recently or works in the OB area of a hospital knows if the Advanced Directive form that you complete in the hospital addresses end of life decisions specifically related to during a pregnancy. I imagine that some women would feel differently about life support if they were carrying a child vs. their decision if they were not carrying a child.
I really didn't intend for this thread to be an abortion debate.
I am curious if anyone who has had a baby recently or works in the OB area of a hospital knows if the Advanced Directive form that you complete in the hospital addresses end of life decisions specifically related to during a pregnancy. I imagine that some women would feel differently about life support if they were carrying a child vs. their decision if they were not carrying a child.
Hospitals usually ask if you have an advanced directive but I have never seen a hospital have one available to sign. Mine was done by an attorney.
I guess now obstetricians are going to have to ask every OB patient what they would want done in this situation.
The Texas law needs to be changed to allow the patient to decide not to be placed in this situation.
You absolutely can if you understand life begins at conception, and is worth protecting.
If you do not understand that...well, of course you're going to think a lot differently. I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess you have no children. I don't know many mothers that would call a 7 1/2 month baby in utero a "fetus" and discuss its viability.
I'm shocked and saddened at the responses here on the side of death and hopelessness. It's a very disheartening narrative of the American culture today.
Well, her husband, and obviously her parents, have all had children and they want her removed from life support.
Obviously, they don't believe that life begins at conception......and their beliefs should be the only ones that count.
I really didn't intend for this thread to be an abortion debate.
I am curious if anyone who has had a baby recently or works in the OB area of a hospital knows if the Advanced Directive form that you complete in the hospital addresses end of life decisions specifically related to during a pregnancy. I imagine that some women would feel differently about life support if they were carrying a child vs. their decision if they were not carrying a child.
Such a document would have to be very detailed.
It would have to address how far along the pregnancy was and whether or not the fetus could be brain damaged, as in this case.
Many women would not want a brain damaged fetus brought to term, in fact, many women decide to terminate otherwise wanted pregnancies for that reason.
Hospitals usually ask if you have an advanced directive but I have never seen a hospital have one available to sign. Mine was done by an attorney.
I guess now obstetricians are going to have to ask every OB patient what they would want done in this situation.
The Texas law needs to be changed to allow the patient to decide not to be placed in this situation.
This last summer a friend of mine was hospitalized and they offered him an advanced directive and a POA for healthcare forms.
He filled them out right in the hospital and signed them in the hospital. They even provided people to witness his signature. He was saved the bother of finding, going to and paying an attorney.
It took a load off of his mind because it was something he had always planned on getting around to doing. BTW.....he is 72.
This last summer a friend of mine was hospitalized and they offered him an advanced directive and a POA for healthcare forms.
He filled them out right in the hospital and signed them in the hospital. They even provided people to witness his signature. He was saved the bother of finding, going to and paying an attorney.
It took a load off of his mind because it was something he had always planned on getting around to doing. BTW.....he is 72.
My attorney tossed in the advanced directive and POA when he did my will. It was a package. it's good the hospital was proactive.
It would have to address how far along the pregnancy was and whether or not the fetus could be brain damaged, as in this case.
Many women would not want a brain damaged fetus brought to term, in fact, many women decide to terminate otherwise wanted pregnancies for that reason.
There is no guarantee that a full-term infant born from a healthy, neurologically intact mother will not have brain damage. A pregnancy specific advanced directive could specify gestational maturity as a criteria, but no way could you ask mothers their preferences depending on if the baby was or was not brain damaged because most of the time there is no way to clearly determine a baby's neurological outcome while in utero.
So.. Who pays for the bill then, if the state is forcing her to remain 'alive'? In any case, just let her die. Her wishes are being disregarded by the state. Ironic that 'govt needs to mind its own business'-Texas is doing this.
My general impression is that "government needs to mind its own business" states never feel that way when it comes to women's reproductive systems. Then they can be incredibly intrusive into the most personal decisions.
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