Reply #38: For the record, I don't believe anyone should be forced to undergo surgery [View All]

against his or her will. I should have made that clear.

I was merely throwing out the ethical football, so to speak, about the viability of fetuses, and whether this should be considered when decisions are made by both medical professionals and parents. And I think the answer is going to be different for every individual and in every case. Now, you're going to say I'm practicing situational ethics here, but I'm really not. You make a choice. The health of the mother (for instance). You make a heirarchy of choices. The health of the mother, the health of the fetus...and so on. It is not situational at all.

You can't legislate ethics, and you can't force people to behave ethically. But it is precisely these gray areas that cause us so much trouble. I have no answers; only questions.

To conclude, the only case where I believe it would be OK to perform surgery on the mother without her permission would be if she was in a coma, which she clearly was not. And even that presents problems.

This is why I'm not in medicine. I'm just a poor writer (who also ate beef in the UK in 1984 and therefore cannot donate blood, much to my annoyance).