The fetus as a patient: an essential ethical concept for maternal-fetal medicine.
The objective of this paper is to provide an ethical analysis of the concept of the fetus as a patient and to identify the clinical implications of this concept for maternal-fetal medicine. The principles of beneficence and respect for autonomy are applied to the viable and previable fetus. We argue that the viable fetus is a fetal patient. The previable fetus is a fetal patient only when the pregnant woman confers such status on it. When the fetus is a patient, directive counseling for fetal benefit is ethically justified. When the fetus is not a patient, counseling should be non-directive.
Chervenak
F A
FA
Department of Obstetrics, New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, New York 10025, USA.
McCullough
L B
LB
D026686:Beneficence; D003376:Counseling; D026689:Ethical Analysis; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D033261:Maternal-Fetal Relations; D028681:Moral Obligations; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000592:standards*; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D011247:Pregnancy; D037841:Pregnant People; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations