Arizona Bill - Your Baby Can Kill You But You Can't Sue Us

[Hahvoc The Decepticon]

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/03/07/arizona-senate-passes-bill-allowing-doctors-to-not-inform-women-of-prenatal-issues-to-prevent-abortions/

It's not hard to figure out what this is about if you look at the link. I plan on getting more information on this, but it seems that...Stupidity has reached an all time low.

Doctors in Arizona can keep vital information from expectant mothers...just so they won't have abortions? Wtf. That's just fucked up.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/09/441245/arizona-bill-doctors-lie-to-women/?mobile=nc

http://rt.com/usa/news/lawsuit-arizona-birth-abortion-149/

http://www.phoenixazpersonalinjuryattorney.com/2012/03/arizona-bill-may-limit-medical-malpractice-wrongful-birth-claims.shtml

 

[Razgriz]

Well, I don't think that's the ENTIRE point of the bill being passed; from what I can tell, it's help lower the number of 'wrongful life' or 'wrongful birth' lawsuits claims that parents who gave birth to children with disabilities can lobby against their doctors. While I don't entirely agree with it, I can see where they're coming from: Prenatal testing can only reveal so much, and it's not perfect. With a lower population level, the statistical distribution of babies 'falling through the cracks' would be fairly low because of the accuracy of the technology.

However, given the large population we have here in the US (and Arizona), the 'failure rate' of the prenatal screenings would inevitably go up, since there's more chance for it to happen. People seem to think that these methods are the 'one-all-cure-all' to all their problems, and that just because they still didn't take the proper precautions should be entitled to compensation. And a lot of people file fraudulent claims, just for the sake of having more money in their pockets.

But, I still agree that a doctor should be 100% upfront with his patients; he/she is the one you're entrusting a large portion of your well-being to, after all. To lie to a patient is absolutely stupid; it's damaging not only to your credibility, but to the patient as well, and to me, that's just wrong.

 

[Hahvoc The Decepticon]

I personally think it's just a load of bullshit. I really don't care if people are against abortion, as a doctor, your religious/personal feelings about it shouldn't be involved in making medical decisions. Especially in this kind of way. It pretty much protects the doctors if a woman ends up dying in childbirth because her kid was developing wrong and fucked up her insides and he/she didn't think it would be a problem to tell her not to abort because...they don't have to say anything. It's not really lying, but at the same time it's like...You're omitting information because you don't want your patient to abort or you don't care about their well-being. That's what it also comes down to, I think. It's like "which is the supposed lesser of two evils?"

 

[As Day Fades]

So we're valuing one human life over another now? Talk about taking anti-choice to the extreme.

Let's see how long this actually lasts. Also, while this bill may be making it legally acceptable in the state, doing so grossly violates the oath all medical staff must take, and shouldn't doing thus take away said doctor's license? Or will that be protected? Either way, unethical beyond belief and disgusting as a human being. If a doctor knew there was a risk to a mother and kept that information from her I'd sooner call that attempted homicide than doing the right thing. Also, not to sound shallow, but my brother has been mentally handicapped since birth, and while I wouldn't trade him for anything the truth is that he's going to be a monetary difficulty and a family responsibility for the entirety of his life -- while it's wonderful my mother had him, if the doctor had that information and didn't give it to her I think she should be allowed to sue considering the lifelong burden of caring for such a disabled person.

Witholding information may not be the exact same as lying, but it still makes one an accomplice. And whether it's the 'entire' point of the bill or not, it's still in there, and that's the bottom line.