Mother of Twins Who Wanted To Avoid Caesarian Scar Charged With Murder

[AussieSim]

I can't believe this \Link www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/12/1078594547149.html\news report{}. Who could be so heartless? What will be the fate of the surviving twin? Hopefully it will be adopted by parents who know the meaning of unconditional love.

She doesn't sound like she was the full ticket from the reports - maybe she was given some really bad advice as to what a c section involved - its just so terribly sad.

Not absolving her of anything - just think it sounds odd how she has no address and kept leaving hospitals - maybe drugs or alcohol were involved though??

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Hi Ya SB - your parcle has come back to me all ripped up - obviously my fault for not wrapping it enough!! - Luckily I put work address on it for Sender - what shall I do - you want to collect it or shall I try again??

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So sad Sounds like she was severely troubled and not at all thinking right. Wonder what she had been told would happen or what her understanding was of the procedure - not a sane one by the sounds of it.

I am truely hoping that this was the case, and she wasn't just a heartless woman.

Oi - email me will you woman!!!

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How awful. I also wonder if she wasn't given proper information - surely you don't get cut like that nowadays in a CS? Maybe she was scared of hospitals, who knows? There must be more to it, I would think.

Being a mother of twins(delivered by c-section), myself, I would have done anything so that they were safe !!
She has to be nuts, but another thought struck me, if she lives in Salt Lake City, perhaps she belongs to one of those strange religious cults, that don't believe in medical intervention.

jac34, you've made a good point. If she was part of some religious cult it would explain the lack of address. It doesn't sound like the women had a full grasp on reality and where was the babies father in all of this? If she was unsupported that could account for her mental state.

Perhaps she was just completely misinformed. Her understanding of a c-scetion was a cut from breast bone to pubic bone - that would put off the 'too posh to push brigade'. I agree she sounds a bit strange, but probably didn't understand the consequences either.

PS I am not having a go at people who have c-sections, i have 2!

I think it sounds like the poor woman was given terrible medical advice, was probably mentally unstable (or at least pregnant and hormonal which is sometimes the same thing ) and also really worry about the precedent this sets in putting an unborn childs needs above that of the mother.
Whilst that is what most of us do, surely we have the right to do that through choice rather than be forced into unwanted medical procedures, or unwanted treatment that medical professional decide is better for our unborn babies - where do you draw the line

Isn't Salt Lake City where the Mormons are based? I'm not sure I'd describe them as a cult - they just have some strange idea, ie polygamy. I think its Christian Scientists and Jehovah's Witnesses who have different ideas about medical intervention, like no blood transfusions. I think!

It's a very sad story - get the feeling that the news report is incomplete though. The woman sounds pretty disturbed.

Good points Prufrock. I think in this country a baby soesn't have a legal entity until birth, so I doubt you could have a murder charge here. Obviously differnet law in Utah!

Whatever anyone's opinion of this is, how can you call it murder if a termination isn't murder? Would it be murder if a mother smoked and then had a stillbirth? Would it be murder if a mother asked for a home birth and complications ensued? If you call this murder then surely a whole lot of other scenarios must also be termed murder?

Same story but on BBC . On here she is denying the charge and claims to have already had 2 c sections in the past.

Here is the story again but this article goes into more detail of the mother's mental state.

Goodness I just feel terribly sorry for her now!!

I didn't write that article, honest!

"This is nothing if not a very novel legal theory," Sikora said. "If it prevails, it raises questions about what a mother can or cannot do with respect to the safety of her unborn child. If a doctor says this will be a very difficult pregnancy and you should get complete bed rest for the last three months and the mother doesn't and the baby is stillborn, is she guilty of murder? If she smokes, is it murder? If she doesn't eat right, is it murder?"

Backs up your statement though doesn't it Janstar? And where do you draw the line?

Dear, dear me, she's a poor soul, isn't she? What would be the point in slapping her behind bars? I find their laws bizarre, in that death through abortion isn't considered murder when just about anything else that risks an unborn baby's life is.

My neighbour's dd went to Utah on a year's student exchange scheme recently. She had an...um...interesting time and met some very odd people.

Surely murder is when you deliberately kill? Did you notice in that statement the doctor said that if she had followed the advice and had a CS, the baby would have lived?

How the hell does he know?

And what if he had performed the procedure and then the baby had died? Would the doctor be charged with murder?

I first thought god what was she thinking!! But Janstar raised some very good points and if c-sections didnt exist (which I am pressuming they dont in some parts of the world) would every child born stillborn be classed as murder?? It is a very sad case and surely her mental illness would have been written in her notes.

Do you have to pay for a c-section in the US? It makes you wonder whether people cannot afford or have insurance for c-sections if not

The other thing is when I had my c-sections they made me sign some papers to do with liability. Even when I was being rushed down to theatre to have an emergency section they made me sign them. What would they have done if I had refused??

When I was in labour my baby became distressed and they started procedures for an emergency c-section. This terrified me and I just put in an amazing effort and pushed like hell to get him out. Eight minutes after the word emergency section he was born. If he'd died, would it have been murder? I was terrified of having a section and I did everything in my power to avoid it and did. But what if the result had been different? There should be a right to choice.