Effect of the legislative definition of the terms 'stillborn' and 'viable'. A medicolegal impasse.
Like so many other medicolegal issues, the legal procedure and legal consequences when a child is stillborn may seem simple and straightforward. However, in practice this is anything but the case. The legislative definitions of the terms 'stillborn' and 'viable' cause inordinate problems. Various legal, medical and social difficulties will only be obviated by amendment of the legal definitions of these terms--a task which should be initiated by the medical and nursing professions.
Taitz
J
J
Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town.
Clow
S
S
D002048:Burial; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D007603:Jurisprudence; D011247:Pregnancy; D013019:South Africa