Ethics round table: choice and autonomy in obstetrics

Dominic Wilkinson; Safoora Teli; Claire Litchfield; Anna Madeley; Brenda Kelly; Lawrence Impey; Rebecca CH Brown; Elselijn Kingma; Helen Lynne Turnham

doi:10.1136/jme-2024-110503

Ethics round table: choice and autonomy in obstetrics

Dominic Wilkinson^*
, Safoora Teli
, Claire Litchfield
, Anna Madeley
, Brenda Kelly
, Lawrence Impey
, Rebecca CH Brown
, Elselijn Kingma
, Helen Lynne Turnham

^*Corresponding author for this work

Philosophy

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)

10 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Decisions about how and where they deliver their baby are extremely important to pregnant women. There are very strong ethical norms that women's autonomy should be respected, and that plans around birth should be personalised. However, there appear to be profound challenges in practice to respecting women's choices in pregnancy and labour. Choices carry risks and consequences-to the woman and her child; also potentially to her caregivers and to other women.What does it mean for women's autonomy to be respected in obstetrics? How should health professionals respond to refusals of treatment or requests for care outside normal guidelines? What are the ethical limits to autonomy? In this clinical ethics round table, service users, midwives, obstetricians, philosophers and ethicists respond to two hypothetical cases drawn from real-life scenarios.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	588-592
Number of pages	5
Journal	Journal of Medical Ethics
Volume	51
Issue number	9
Early online date	29 Nov 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2024-110503
Publication status	Published - 2024

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SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

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Cite this

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title = "Ethics round table: choice and autonomy in obstetrics",

abstract = "Decisions about how and where they deliver their baby are extremely important to pregnant women. There are very strong ethical norms that women's autonomy should be respected, and that plans around birth should be personalised. However, there appear to be profound challenges in practice to respecting women's choices in pregnancy and labour. Choices carry risks and consequences-to the woman and her child; also potentially to her caregivers and to other women.What does it mean for women's autonomy to be respected in obstetrics? How should health professionals respond to refusals of treatment or requests for care outside normal guidelines? What are the ethical limits to autonomy? In this clinical ethics round table, service users, midwives, obstetricians, philosophers and ethicists respond to two hypothetical cases drawn from real-life scenarios.",

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doi = "10.1136/jme-2024-110503",

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AU - Wilkinson, Dominic

AU - Teli, Safoora

AU - Litchfield, Claire

AU - Madeley, Anna

AU - Kelly, Brenda

AU - Impey, Lawrence

AU - Brown, Rebecca CH

AU - Kingma, Elselijn

AU - Turnham, Helen Lynne

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JO - Journal of Medical Ethics

JF - Journal of Medical Ethics

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Ethics round table: choice and autonomy in obstetrics

Abstract

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