Safe havens for addicted mothers
CMAJ 1997;157:1202
Re: Bioethics for clinicians: 12. Ethical dilemmas that
arise in the care of pregnant women: rethinking "maternalfetal
conflicts", by Elizabeth Flagler, Françoise Baylis and Sanda
Rodgers, CMAJ 1997;156:1729-32 [full text / résumé]
See response from: E. Flagler
I confess to a longstanding suspicion that "ethicists" are simply individuals with strongly held opinions concerning right or wrong, an impression confirmed by this article. The article included the following among its lines of reasoning:
- The law says you must do something and therefore it is ethical.
- There cannot be opposition between the interests of the fetusmother dyad but there can be opposition between the interests of the newbornmother dyad.
- State intervention to protect someone is hypocritical unless all societal evils are addressed at the same time.
I strongly support abortion rights for women but am still undecided on the issues surrounding fetalmaternal rights. This article simply stated one side of that debate. There is no doubt that this article is an opinion piece. It should have been published as an editorial, not within your Education section.
Derryck H. Smith, MD
Clinical Professor
Department of Psychiatry
University of British Columbia
Head
Department of Psychiatry
BC's Children's Hospital
Vancouver, BC
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