Woman Refuses Caesarean, Charged With Murder

AP ^ | 3-12-04

[truthandlife]

As Melissa Ann Rowland's unborn twins got closer to birth, doctors repeatedly told her they would likely die if she did not have a Caesarean (search) section. She refused, and one later was stillborn.

Authorities charged 28-year-old Rowland with murder on Thursday, saying she exhibited "depraved indifference to human life," according to court documents. One nurse told police that Rowland said she would rather "lose one of the babies than be cut like that."

[Crazieman]

Paging Irony, you're needed in ward 12

[Physicist]

The doctor who performed an autopsy found that the fetus died two days before delivery and would have survived if Rowland had undergone a C-section when urged to do so.

Well, there you go. Had she obtained an abortion after the fetus was dead but before delivery, it would have been hunky-dory. Why didn't anybody think of that?

[ClearCase_guy]

Indeed. Had the doctors determined that the mother's life had been "in danger" they would have happily gone in to collapse the skull of one or both of the infants in utero. In cases like that, half of the people involved in the pregnancy die -- or two-thirds if both twins were killed by the doctor. In the actual case, two-thirds of the people involved managed to survive, and the doctors are personally offended.

[Conspiracy Guy]

No kidding. She could have aborted both anywhere along the way and no one would have said a word.

She needs no reason to refuse a C-Section just as she'd have needed no reason to abort. Woman's body argument.

I wait anxiously as this plays out.

CG

[af_vet_1981]

Paging Irony, you're needed in ward 12

Well put

What message did the government apparatus think it was sending with Roe v. Wade ?

[Consort]

She was warned about the medical consequences. Was she warned about the legal consequences?

[Mamzelle]

What also may be going on here is an emerging theory of pre-emptive defense of the doc . Fearing he'll be blamed, he sets in motion a case against the mother. The idea that he's anxious to perform an abortion is absurd.

We'll be seeing more of this kind of defensive medicine--as in, the best defence is a good offence.

[MaryFromMichigan]

Being a mom myself, I would walk through fire for any of my kids.
Most parents would.
I am strongly pro-life.
However, as much as I despise her not having the c-section, I have a problem with charging some one with a crime for refusing major surgery.
In this case, the woman sounded very uniformed about the operation.

[Modernman]

Interesting. I don't see this as a question of abortion, but rather of the right to choose what kind of surgery you want performed on you.

[armyboy]

now if she wanted to have a partial-birth abortion everything would be fine.
Let's see here a doctor can abort a partially born baby and not get into trouble, but if a mom-to-be that want to have a natural birth and the baby dies it's murder.
thats stupid.

[avg_freeper]

The pictures I've seen of her would seem to imply that she is of insufficient mental capacity to be able to make complex decisions. Not to say that she has no culpability but she does look to be mentally disabled or severely incapacitated by past drug use.

[Sacajaweau]

Of course, they made her sign a paper saying they might die. But notice that only one died. The doctors probably wished that they both died so they could be REALLY right.

[Conspiracy Guy]

It is absurd.

[freekitty]

This is outrageous. Are people suppose to be arrested for not making the politically correct choice?

[11th Earl of Mar]

I am very pro-life.

But I cannot agree with charging a woman for murder for choosing the 'wrong' medical choice.

If a parent chooses chemo, instead of radiation, and it is determined that the chosen treatment hastened death, are we going to charge THOSE parents with murder?

If the doctors had made the wrong choice and killed one of the babies, would THEY be tried for murder? Of course not. That is what malpractice insurance is for.

[T.Smith]

Was there something preventing the doctors from administering pitocin to bring on labor? Seems like that would have been preferable to letting her flat turn down the C-section.

In any event I think a charge of murder is ridiculous and hypocritical in the extreme.

[MaryFromMichigan]

You echo my thoughts- post 9

[BikePacker]

And the genepool marches on...

Melissa Ann Rowland

[Crazieman]

Should accompany that with a warning