Caesarean section on maternal request: how clear medical evidence fails to produce ethical consensus.
National and international bodies have used evidence-based medicine to apply the principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence to guide a physician's response to a request for Caesarean section without medical indication. Although they are nearly unanimous in their condemnation of saying "yes," a physician who weighs risks unequally, who weighs risks in a patient-centred manner, or who values autonomy may find saying "no" to be an unacceptable choice.
Reilly
Daniel Robert
DR
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, McMaster University, Hamilton ON, Canada.
D000328:Adult; D026686:Beneficence; D002585:Cesarean Section / Q000941:ethics*; D003657:Decision Making; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010358:Patient Participation; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D028662:Principle-Based Ethics