ArticleHealth care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy2021
Maternal-Fetal Surgery: Does Recognising Fetal Patienthood Pose a Threat to Pregnant Women's Autonomy?
Article in Health care analysis : HCA : journal of health philosophy and policy, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring ethical dilemmas in the care of pregnant women in Ghana: a case of "maternal-foetal conflicts in a peri-urban hospital in Ghana".BMC medical ethics · 2026Article
- Article
- Caring for Pregnant Patients with Cancer: A Framework for Ethical and Patient-Centred Care.Cancers · 2024Review
- Article
- Resuscitation decisions in fetal myelomeningocele repair should center on parents' values: a counter analysis.Journal of perinatology : official journal of the California Perinatal Association · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Maternal-fetal surgery (MFS) encompasses a range of innovative procedures aiming to treat fetal illnesses and anomalies during pregnancy. Their development and gradual introduction into healthcare raise important ethical issues concerning respect for pregnant women's bodily integrity and autonomy. This paper asks what kind of ethical framework should be employed to best regulate the practice of MFS without eroding the hard-won rights of pregnant women. I examine some existing models conceptualising the relationship between a pregnant woman and the fetus to determine what kind of framework is the most adequate for MFS, and conclude that an ecosystem or maternal-fetal dyad model is best suited for upholding women's autonomy. However, I suggest that an appropriate framework needs to incorporate some notion of fetal patienthood, albeit a very limited one, in order to be consistent with the views of healthcare providers and their pregnant patients. I argue that such an ethical framework is both theoretically sound and fundamentally respectful of women's autonomy, and is thus best suited to protect women from coercion or undue paternalism when deciding whether to undergo MFS.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.