Wednesday, September 12, 2007

a quickie before I leave...

There's this article in the NY Times:

Court Won't Rule on Life's Beginning

Synopsis:
A woman sued her doctor for malpractice. She claims that when she had a (life saving) abortion, the doctor didn't tell her that the abortion would be taking away a human life (when she was 6-8 weeks pregnant). NJ Supreme Court ruled that the doctor doesn't have to tell her that because there is no standard medical definition of when life begins.

My question:
WTF did she think an abortion was?

My Legal Beagle says that it sounds like an "impact litigation" which means that pro-lifers and whomever were trying to create a situation in which NJ would be forced to create this definition.

Whatever, I don't speak legalese. I'm just glad she lost the case.




ps - isn't it funny when I bring a news article into my blog? I feel like I should start a whole new blog entirely devoted to news because news isn't fun to read, though if I let myself I can go on all night, what with all my "opinions" on things. Anyway, the occasional non-fun mixed in won't kill you, and I'll see how you , my faithful readers, respond. pps - I just added a poll re: this. Go vote on it.

4 comments:

SUEB0B said...

That whole news/my life separation thing is why I started linkateria. I felt like whenever I discussed news, people went away. Unless it was about Britney.

If you are going to be in So Cal, email me. Maybe we could get together. Big state, I know.

LittlePea said...

I agree with you about this. If what she is reporting the doctor said to her is true then she should have asked more questions. Doctors have enough to worry about with people suing them all the time(and trust me, I'm not a fan of doctors)so it's the patient's responsibility to ask questions, inform themselves so they can be clear about what they want to do next. A medical procedure like an abortion isn't just something one does on a whim-it's not like going to the mall to get your ears pierced . I'm sure all states have different laws about the prerequisite but I've read that some states have a rule about a mandatory talk with a counselor so that the patient is sure and not being forced or abused in any way. This kind of case can be tricky because not only are interested parties forcing "a situation in which NJ would be forced to create this definition"(to steal your Legal Beagle's words) about when life begins but also what is a human life-is it a functioning form that can survive outside of the womb or is it a mass of cells in the womb?

I always like your articles.

LittlePea said...

I just realized the redundancy in my comment. I'm only human- no pun intended :O)

Count Mockula said...

I think a mix is fine. Bring it to my attention sistah! (Hope everything's okay in CA.)

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