It has happened in Oviedo, where a pregnant woman who exceeded 42 weeks of gestation and intended to give birth at home, was forced to enter the hospital after a medical report that warned of “risk of fetal hypoxia and intrauterine fetal death.”
The head of the Court of Instruction number 1 of Oviedo received yesterday a request signed by the deputy director of Surgical and Critical Services of the Central University Hospital of Asturias (HUCA), which suggested the need to “adopt the mandatory admission measure for the immediate practice of an induced labor “, as detailed by the Superior Court of Justice of Asturias (TSJA).
Just two hours after the report was assessed, the judge ordered the local police to go to the woman’s home to proceed with her transfer and subsequent admission to the hospital for an induced pact, if applicable.
When the police arrived at the home, the pregnant woman was accompanied by a private midwife who regularly cared for her, who commented that the fetal heartbeat was under control and that the contractions had already begun.
After convincing the husband, who was initially reluctant, the agents managed to get the woman out of her home and then a medical team took care of her until she was admitted to the hospital, where she is currently under medical supervision.
From week 35 without medical check-ups
According to El Mundo, the report was accompanied by a history of pregnancy checks and visits to the obstetric service, which indicated that the woman interrupted the medical check-ups at week 35 + 2 , despite the insistence of the doctors to resume them.
Doctors calculated, based on previous visits, that the woman would currently be at week 42 + 3 of pregnancy .
Can a judge force a pregnant woman to give birth in the hospital against her will?
In 5-10 percent of cases, the pregnancy lasts beyond 42 weeks. After 40 weeks, the risks to the fetus begin to increase very slowly and the pregnant woman must be properly monitored frequently to monitor the well-being of the baby.
According to the Delivery Care Strategy, from week 41 + 0 the pregnant woman should be offered the possibility of waiting for the spontaneous onset of labor or of inducing labor throughout week 41, since the placenta it could stop supplying the baby with the necessary nutrients. Normally, in hospitals, labor is induced by protocol at week 41 + 3 days .
For its part, according to SEGO protocols, post-term pregnancy (more than 42 weeks) is a reason for induction of labor.
According to Francisca Fernández, head of the legal area of El Parto es Nuestro on her Facebook profile, the judge’s decision is “absolutely arbitrary and disproportionate”, since there was no vital urgency to justify the forced induction.
In such a case, should the mother’s right to give birth wherever she decides should prevail, or is it okay for doctors to intervene if they believe there could be a risk to the baby?
Via | The world
