Hospital 7: Choice

You soon find in a hospital that there is no privacy, not with your body, and definitely not with your situation. It’s you, a doctor, and a curtain. Your roommate hears everything. I have a roommate now. She’s 24 weeks along and facing a far more dangerous situation than I. Her water broke, which means that her timeline is probably short. I can go on and off medication that mitigates my labor and keeps me stable. But, with no amniotic fluid, there’s only so much time she can keep a baby in safely. It can be a heartbreaker, this baby business. 

This poor woman is facing a difficult choice: try to save the baby at all costs, though the chances of survival are only about 70% and serious disability is likely. Or-- let nature take its course (i.e. let the baby demise in utero and try again later). This got me thinking about the abortion debate. The staff here, with all their experience and knowledge of the power of modern medicine, has been trying to steer her toward a C-section the moment the baby seems in distress -- to save the baby at all costs. My roommate and her husband, realizing the risks to the long-term quality of life for a baby born so very premature- should the baby even live- are not entirely convinced. They want a more sure thing.

This is what I find so fascinating. Right now, she is offered a choice to intervene (the equivalent of keeping her baby) or to not intervene (probably akin to an abortion at this point). A 24-week termination is, as far as I understand it, considered a partial birth abortion and is illegal in this country. But, if there is a chance that “nature” might do the job (because the parents refuse to interfere), this is their “choice” and seems to tip the scales of morality ever so slightly in favor of OK.

I’ve been trying to encourage her with both my experience, that they told me the day I got here I would probably have the babies within hours and have instead been here a week in fairly stable condition, and anecdotes related to me by nurses of miracle preemies who went on to do just fine.  The doctors, they need to show you the ugly for legal reasons. But, all hope is not lost.