Legal, ethical and medical debates have erupted over a Florida case in which a pregnant woman was forced under court order to stay in the hospital against her wishes, the St. Petersburg Times reports. In March 2009, Samantha Burton checked in to Tallahassee Memorial Hospital for what appeared to be premature labor and was order by a doctor there to quit smoking and rest in bed. After asking to be treated elsewhere because of dissatisfaction with her doctor and the hospital, Burton was ordered by Leon County Circuit Court Judge John Cooper to stay at the facility.
In his ruling, Cooper said that state has a right "to ensure that children receive medical treatment which is necessary for the preservation of life and health." Burton occasionally smoked but had received prenatal care, according to her lawyer, David Abrams. The infant was delivered stillborn a few days later. Abrams said Burton is appealing the judge's decision with the hope that the ruling will not become precedent for similar decisions against other women. He asked, "Does the state own the inside of a woman's womb, that it can kind of intervene at will?" Abrams said legal precedents dictate that doctors should have determined if the fetus was viable outside the womb without medical heroics and should have received a second opinion. State attorney Willie Meggs said, "Sometimes there is not time for two doctors."
A three-judge appeals court panel heard the case this month but has not indicated when it will rule. Sharon Phelan, an obstetrician at the University of New Mexico and a spokesperson for the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said cases weighing the rights of a fetus against those of a woman can become "a proxy for the abortion issue." She added, "Does a woman's life have to be totally controlled by Big Brother, or by a third party, for what they think is best for that pregnancy without any consideration or input by the woman?" (Stein/Krueger, St. Petersburg Times, 1/27).
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