To wonder who's life would be prioritised, mother or baby?

[splendidisolation]

Just one of those random train of thought questions that popped up in my head.

Imagine this theoretical scenario, a mother is giving birth and the doctor's have to decide whether to save her life or the newborn on its way out.
Ethically, which would they be forced to choose and why?

Imagine the mother's partner or a family member is present. Obviously horrific, but would they be asked to decide? Who makes that decision?

f the big red button is pressed during birth, separate paediatric and obstetric teams will rush in to provide mother and baby with specialist care.

That's pretty much the last thing I remember about the birth of DD.

I understood that Catholic teaching says neither has priority over the other.

I had complications in pregnancy and was being taking for an urgent C-section. Dr explained one of us might not make it, and I made him promise to save the baby over me if it came to it. DH tried to override that, but I only consented to the op on that basis. We both survived.

In the UK a baby has no legal rights until it's born. Mother would be saved. There are cases where a section is done if mother is in cardiac arrest no matter of gestation but because it easier to do cpr on a woman without a gravid uterus. Thankfully these cases are rare. Not sure how it woks happen in other countries.

I was brought up Catholic and was told the baby should be saved over the mother.

"The bishops insisted that the Catholic Church has never taught that the life of a child in the womb should be preferred to that of a mother." Catholic Herald

@BackieJerkhart As a child in a Catholic school and with Catholic parents, I was told lots of lies! This one was repeated in the home as well as the school and the church, though.

@Pengggwn I seem to remember it being to do with abortion - the issue of whether a woman could have an abortion if her life was at risk. The answer was an emphatic 'No', she couldn't. Or rather she couldn't and remain a Catholic.

Always the mother and no family aren't asked to,decide.

Strangely my obstetrician told me prior to delivery his role was to care for me. In the event of an emergency another specialist would be called to care for the babe.'

This was the case with my eldest son. He had some issues at birth, and the on-call pediatrician took over his care. My FIL says he'll never forget seeing the pediatrician running through the waiting room to the maternity ward to save my baby.

The mother

She is the patient
She has the nhs number
She has the hosp admission band on wrist

I went to a catholic school and one of the girls informed us that Catholics would save the baby. We asked the nuns and while they tried to assert that the doctors should try to save both it was clear to us that the mother's life was secondary. In practice if you're trying to save both and can't actively disadvantage the baby then it doesn't look good for the mother. I am encouraged that the Catholics here think that this might have changed.

I have been in this situation as a health professional. It's always, always the mother who would be prioritised and I'm a bit horrified by anyone who would think otherwise. I can understand why they think that way but legally the baby isn't yet a person - if they didn't prioritise the mother they would be in big trouble.

There is no time in situations like this to be faffing about asking partners what they want. That's Hollywood. We had 5 minutes max to get the baby out before either the mother or both died. In reality, they get told to leave and pushed out of the room and are kept in the dark until things are more stable.

Luckily they both survived with no ill effects. And I'll admit I was far more worried about the mother. Of course I cared about the baby but a maternal death in the UK is such a rare and shocking thing to happen that it's everyone's worst nightmare scenario.

I'm a Consultant obstetrician. British law states that the fetus is not a person and thus has no rights until it is born. Therefore, the mother, my patient, is my priority. However, in reality, the reason I go to work every day is to try to prevent either being harmed.

For the record, if you are unconscious, your next of kin have no rights over you, your body or your medical care. The doctors will decide assuming no advance medical directive.

I may be both paranoid and heartless, but I told my DH during my first pregnancy that if it came to it I wanted to be saved above the baby. Luckily we didn't come anywhere near it.

mother

notaflyingmonkey Save my babe rather than me!, now that's real love;!

I had difficulties during my first pregnancy and was told in no uncertain terms that I was only kept in hospital to save my life, not that of my unborn child.

Definitely the mother as unborn babies don't have legal rights in the UK. I'm amazed anyone would think otherwise particularly the suggestion that they would ask the birth partner (wtf!). As if being present at the birth would give someone the right to decide whose life is most important!

The consultant has only one patient - the dm. She is his priority. .

Of course the birthing partner wouldn't be given the power. One adult doesn't have power over the life of another. Women have power over the life of an unborn baby and that's it.

The mother can choose to give up her life if she wants but drs etc cannot prioritise baby over mother. If they could women would be secondary to other human lives by default.

The whole think about the father or partner being asked to choose is ridiculous anyway- that would never happen. Can you imagine a doctor coming out and saying 'uh, I can only save one of them- please choose'? Very uncomfortable about the Catholic idea that baby's life takes precedence (if true). Bet that one would never ever have been dreamed up if men were the ones who gave birth.

To be brutally honest, the mother dying would have a much bigger impact on the lives of others- her existing children, her partner, her sibling, her parents, her friends.

When dd2 was born the staff (who were amaing) just wanted to get her out of me.

We both were in danger, thankfully both fine now and she is 12.

I felt they prioritised both of us the consultant continued to help me after she born and she was taken by other staff to get breathing etc.

Mother, untill the baby is actually out the mother is their patient

Thanks for your replies, interesting, instinctively I would say the mother but that doesn't seem like an obvious question to me.

Because we're not talking abortion and foetus here, which is a whole different debate, the baby is actually a person since its about to come out.

But interestingly i didnt know that legally the baby is NOT considered a person since technically although it may be seconds away from entering the world, it in fact hasnt.