Ethical Dilemma
Case Study
M, a 24-years-old pregnant woman who is been in a tragic car accident, with no previous history of chronic medical illnesses she presented to the emergency department unconscious. she suffered from intracranial hemorrhage which led to irreversible loss of all her brain and brainstem function. After performing a clinical examination to test her brainstem reflexes and apnoea, her neurologist declared her brain-dead after showing the three neurological criteria which are coma, apneoa and the absence of brainstem reflexes making her clinically and legally dead. M is a 25-weeks pregnant and after performing sonography to check the fetus vital signs, it showed that the fetus is alive and does not have any congenital diseases or abnormalities. …show more content…
The dilemma is the decision that the family should make whether to provide the life-sustaining to M and to use her body as an incubator for the sake of her fetus even though she is clinically and legally dead or to remove the life support and terminate the pregnancy.
Deliberation:
Autonomy is one of the basic principle of bioethics and in this case, the doctor declared M to be brain-dead which means she is incapable to give the informed constant regarding her decisions which makes her husband and family responsible for making such decision for the patient’s best interest. So, if the family decided to continue the life support this would violate M’s basic rights like integrity, privacy, and her desire for dying with dignity (Masaki, 2016). Furthermore, there is no benefit for the mother to receive the somatic support sense that she is already dead and treating her body as an incubator for the fetus could be considered as sexual discrimination to the women(Masaki, 2016).
In addition, Quality of life for the fetus is essential and should be considered in such decision, the fact that the fetus will not have a mother which will have an influence on his …show more content…
Nonetheless, using M’s body as an incubator would not violate her right to autonomy or integrity because in this case, the patient is already dead (Said, Amer, Rahman, Dirar, & Faris, 2013). The family decision of keeping the fetus alive and taking care of him after birth with affection, love, and prospect of happiness will make this fetus live a good life even without a mother and it is not justified to forbid this fetus of his right to be born or the right to live (Masaki,
M, a 24-years-old pregnant woman who is been in a tragic car accident, with no previous history of chronic medical illnesses she presented to the emergency department unconscious. she suffered from intracranial hemorrhage which led to irreversible loss of all her brain and brainstem function. After performing a clinical examination to test her brainstem reflexes and apnoea, her neurologist declared her brain-dead after showing the three neurological criteria which are coma, apneoa and the absence of brainstem reflexes making her clinically and legally dead. M is a 25-weeks pregnant and after performing sonography to check the fetus vital signs, it showed that the fetus is alive and does not have any congenital diseases or abnormalities. …show more content…
The dilemma is the decision that the family should make whether to provide the life-sustaining to M and to use her body as an incubator for the sake of her fetus even though she is clinically and legally dead or to remove the life support and terminate the pregnancy.
Deliberation:
Autonomy is one of the basic principle of bioethics and in this case, the doctor declared M to be brain-dead which means she is incapable to give the informed constant regarding her decisions which makes her husband and family responsible for making such decision for the patient’s best interest. So, if the family decided to continue the life support this would violate M’s basic rights like integrity, privacy, and her desire for dying with dignity (Masaki, 2016). Furthermore, there is no benefit for the mother to receive the somatic support sense that she is already dead and treating her body as an incubator for the fetus could be considered as sexual discrimination to the women(Masaki, 2016).
In addition, Quality of life for the fetus is essential and should be considered in such decision, the fact that the fetus will not have a mother which will have an influence on his …show more content…
Nonetheless, using M’s body as an incubator would not violate her right to autonomy or integrity because in this case, the patient is already dead (Said, Amer, Rahman, Dirar, & Faris, 2013). The family decision of keeping the fetus alive and taking care of him after birth with affection, love, and prospect of happiness will make this fetus live a good life even without a mother and it is not justified to forbid this fetus of his right to be born or the right to live (Masaki,