The Question of Blood

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday September 21, 2006 18:25 by Chris Murray - .

Woman transfused as result of Court order.

There are few details but a woman from the Congo had refused a blood transfusion
after haemorraging this morning at the Coombe, women's Hospital. She had given birth
to a baby boy.

Complications ensued which led to the loss of 80% of her blood.
She refused Transfusion.
The Coombe Applied to the Courts.
The Court ordered the transfusion.
Mainstream is calling it a landmark decision.

Questions:- Is birth , the birthing process a mental illness/a physical illness?
Does the patient have the right to a voice in their treatment.
Was she made a ward of court in order for the Hospital authority to over-rule
her wishes which coukd have been ethical/religious.

Birth, as conceived by the medico-legal establishment is a dangerous area
it is a set of symptoms and not a process.
Witness the amount of medical interventions in the area of pregnancy.
Midwives are under-resourced and not given the right to prescribe or to
allow a patient to leave without consultant intervention.

Some consultants do not do their job and are very hard to get rid of.

This woman had a say in her care as all potential mothers do.

This includes the right to refuse a consultant.
The right to elect the type of maternity care she chooses.
The right not to have medical students in the room.
The right to opt for home -birth and non-medical intervention.

The point is moot now.
The wish of the patient has been ruled out of order by the medical establishment,
surely with an eye on potential litigation.
The woman will be transfused asap.

The baby is doing fine.