Situation :
Girl of 17 is 3 months pregnant with first child, and has recently been diagnosed with cervical cancer.
She has decided against getting treated for the cancer due to really wanting to have her child.
Is this bad for the child?
Bad for her?
Arguably, for the child, the mother going without treatment is better than, say, an abortion or exposure to chemo drugs.
As for the mother - this could depend on how far advanced things are. If the cancer is in a very, very early stage this might be survivable. If things are very far advanced, yes, it could endanger her life.
Please tell me this is hypothetical…?
Would the situation being real vs hypothetical make a difference?
There are too many things we don’t know, to give a proper answer. Of course, ideally, cancer would be treated aggressively. But some cancers grow slowly, and the woman could wait until after the baby was born to treat it. Some treatments would necessarily damage her cervix and compromise the baby’s safety. Some treatments might kill or otherwise damage the baby (chemo, radiation). I’d say this is a no-win situation. She may lose her life, to save the baby’s. They might both die. She might be able to begin treatment after delivering the baby prematurely. I just don’t know how we can answer.
As for why it matters if it’s premature, it’s just that we’ve had a lot of threads started recently with a similar sort of theme, lots of dreadful hypotheticals including whether it’s okay to “let” a kid starve to death if it’s not your responsibility to take care of it. So yes, hypotheticals certainly do matter. It’s easy to dismiss or ignore hypotheticals. Real peoples’ situations are harder to dismiss.
Ack. I mean, as for why it matters if it’s hypothetical, etc.
Well im sorry to say that no it isnt hypothetical.
I am still unsure about this topic as i really dont want anyone involved in the situation to find someone posting about it on the internet.
Jeff
The woman’s doctor would certainly have more information than we do, on how far along the cancer is, chance of saving the mother and/or baby with different procedures, etc. And if different procedures offer the best chance for the baby and for the mother, the doctor should respect whichever decision the mother might make. If the woman is religious, she might seek advice from her pastor on the ethical aspects of this decision, and even if she is not religious, she could seek similar advice from a counsellor (there may be one available for free through her school, if she’s a student). All of these people (doctor, pastor, and counsellor) are bound to confidentiality, so she need not worry about them telling others about the pregnancy.
My cousin was in this situation, with rather early-stage cervical cancer. They waited for her to have the baby, then dealt with it.
Just an anecdote.