Failing to Protect. The Medical Doctor's Mission Re-evaluated

This post is a reaction to a news story appeared in all major Romanian newspapers yesterday. The story goes on like this: one woman tries for ten years to have a baby. Finally she gets this chance, she gets pregnant. But she is already 39. When 3 months pregnant, she undertakes one test to determine whether her baby is healthy or not. The result is not conclusive, but it suggests there is a strong possibility that the baby has the Down syndrome.



Worried, she asks for the amniocentesis procedure, which in theory is financed by the state. She is refused and directed to the private clinics (where the same doctors do the procedure, but in exchange for approximately 500 Euro, money that our lady does not have). Finally, after almost three months, she gets the chance to do it for free and the Down syndrome is confirmed (on how accurate the result of this procedure you can inform yourselves here).



Together with her husband, our lady decides not to submit the baby she wanted so much to a life of severe mental and physical handicap (more information on the Down syndrome here). The law in Romania agrees to an abortion for this reason even at 24 weeks and the doctors prepare her by administering injections to induce a premature birth.



However, when the time comes, the online pharmacy on shift refuses to assist on the grounds he is Muslim and his religion does not allow abortions. The lady is assisted by her husband, the child is born alive and screaming, contributing to an even greater discomfort of the mother, who wants to hold her baby. The baby dies ten minutes later and, according to the husband, shows the clear signs of the Down syndrome.



In spite of everything, the management of the hospital finds the doctor has not done anything improper. To top it up, the comments of religious people below the story published online label her a criminal. While I certainly do not agree to abortions instead of birth control (which is safer and less traumatic to the woman herself in the first place), in this case I think the woman has been unfairly treated and judged, starting with the doctor and finishing with people that have no idea how hard is life for a person with Down syndrome. If I would have been in the same situation of the child, I would have preferred not to be born at all. What do you think? Please think hard before answering.

The source of the photo is here.