What rights do parents have regarding emergency medical care of a newborn?
Werkzeuger, I am so sorry you are going through this, and I wish you and your family all the best. While you need to speak your specific health care providers and a lawyer in your state, I can offer you some concrete advice: you will need to avoid a Catholic hospital. They are much more likely to treat aggressively regardless of the family’s wishes. In general, this area or law is incredibly state-specific and is also a new and expanding area of law. South Carolina is trying to pass a law right now that would require doctors to provide all care available to any fetus born alive (they define born alive as any response or movement) at any stage of development. I am pretty sure Minnesota does not have such restrictive policy, as far as I know, but I am definitely not a legal expert. You could contact an organization such as the Center for Reproductive Rights, or the National Advocates for Pregnant
In grad school for bioethics, I spent a semester following the hospital ethicist. It has been my experience, that every hospital has one. They are usually philosophy trained, but often have extensive legal training as well, because they are often the ones who advise the medical professionals on appropriate response to certain events. If there is a bioethicist at the facility where you will be delivering, then I would recommend setting an appointment to talk to her/him. Not only can they provide some interesting insights, but they can tell you what the hospital policy is, which is some private hospitals can trump your written instructions, and they are willing to fight it out in court later. My heart goes out to both of you, and I hope that you find yourselves the exhausted parents of happy, healthy twins.
This is an extremely tricky issue, and it is completely dependent in which state you reside. I’ve litigated this from both sides, the parents and the healthcare providers; for treatment and against it. I’ve drafted policies for hospitals on this point. I’m currently litigating a case involving intractable anoxic ischemic encephalopathy which is profound traumatic brain injury (basically, a fetus was delivered with 0 Apgar scores across the board for the first 15 minutes and was brought to life by the physician; the basal ganglia was destroyed). I know how bad this can get because I’ve seen the worst. If this were Texas, I’d ask you to contact me privately, because I could give you some extremely useful direction or possibly assist you directly. Sorry I am not that familiar with Minnesota. I will do this, though: I’ll take a look at the Minnesota statutes and see if I can figure out which one applies, if any, and direct you to the relevant one. It may not be until tomorrow, though.
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- What rights do parents have regarding emergency medical care of a newborn?
