Maternal-fetal medicine
Scientific Federation is conducting World Congress on Gynecology &
Obstetrics (WCGO-2018) on September
20-21, 2018 at Toronto, Canada.
WCGO-2018 is anticipating over 150-200 participants from all over the world. The official opening ceremony will take place on September 20-21 at Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport 970 Dixon Road, Toronto, ON M9W 1J9, Canada
This year we are focusing on “Expedite the Future Endeavour’s in Gynecology and Obstetrics Care”
WCGO-2018 is anticipating over 150-200 participants from all over the world. The official opening ceremony will take place on September 20-21 at Holiday Inn Toronto International Airport 970 Dixon Road, Toronto, ON M9W 1J9, Canada
This year we are focusing on “Expedite the Future Endeavour’s in Gynecology and Obstetrics Care”
WCGO-2018 Scientific sessions includes Reproductive
medicine, Reproductive Medicine, IVF, Family planning, Epidemiology of
Gynecologic Cancers, Gynecological Oncology, Primary Peritoneal Cancer, Gynecological
Endocrinology, Reproductive Cancer, Cesarean Delivery, Polycystic Ovary
Syndrome, Pregnancy etc…
There are plenary talks, oral talks and
workshops on Maternal-fetal session
Maternal-fetal medicine: Maternal–fetal medicine is a branch of medicine that focuses on managing health concerns of the mother and fetus prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy .
Maternal-fetal medicine: Maternal–fetal medicine is a branch of medicine that focuses on managing health concerns of the mother and fetus prior to, during, and shortly after pregnancy .
The field of maternal–fetal intervention is
rapidly evolving with new technologies and innovations. This raises complex
ethical and medico-legal challenges related to what constitutes innovative
treatment versus human experimentation, with or without the umbrella of
“medical research.” There exists a gray zone between these black and white
classifications, but there are also clear guidelines that should be responsibly
negotiated when making the essential transition between an innovative treatment
and a validated therapy. This review attempts to define some of the current and
future ethical challenges in maternal–fetal research, and to offer constructive
insight into how they might be addressed.
The clinicians who developed technologies for assisting human reproduction had a double motivation. Paternalistic concern to help women experiencing difficulties with reproduction was coupled with a utilitarian ethic that assumed that such innovations would result in more benefit than harm. Current techniques donor insemination, the induction of ovulation, in-vitro fertilization, antenatal screening for fetal abnormality, antenatal diagnosis (with the option of abortion), and fetal treatment in utero were accepted because of their obvious benefits. They became routine practice long before adverse effects were quantified, and before it became apparent that the clinicians' assumptions of the benefits to women and their children had been simplistic: in-vitro fertilization has resulted in the birth of children disabled by the prematurity associated with multiple pregnancy; after normal conception, the notion of pregnancy as a natural and rewarding process has been undermined by pressures to accept antenatal diagnosis and fetal monitoring.
The clinicians who developed technologies for assisting human reproduction had a double motivation. Paternalistic concern to help women experiencing difficulties with reproduction was coupled with a utilitarian ethic that assumed that such innovations would result in more benefit than harm. Current techniques donor insemination, the induction of ovulation, in-vitro fertilization, antenatal screening for fetal abnormality, antenatal diagnosis (with the option of abortion), and fetal treatment in utero were accepted because of their obvious benefits. They became routine practice long before adverse effects were quantified, and before it became apparent that the clinicians' assumptions of the benefits to women and their children had been simplistic: in-vitro fertilization has resulted in the birth of children disabled by the prematurity associated with multiple pregnancy; after normal conception, the notion of pregnancy as a natural and rewarding process has been undermined by pressures to accept antenatal diagnosis and fetal monitoring.
Discussion of ethical issues
and legal regulation has followed rather than led the developments in
maternal—fetal medicine. The autonomy of the woman and the moral status of the
fetus are central to the debate. Western secular ethics gives priority to
personal autonomy, but in matters of sex and reproduction society persists in
assigning more autonomy to men than to women. Men often coerce their partners
into undesired sexual activity. Unintended pregnancy is disproportionately
harmful to women yet their default behaviour is expected to be acceptance both
of the pregnancy and of the obligation to care for the child. Full autonomy for
women means equality in sexual behaviour and complete personal authority over
the fetus.
But what is the moral status of
the fetus It is not ‘new life’—the intracellular biological processes of the
fetus are in direct continuity with those of the women, with the man adding
only his half of the chromosomal genes. The fetus acquires moral status
progressively throughout pregnancy, a progress that is marked by developmental
milestones such as formation of the neural tube, completion of macroscopic
organogenesis, functional maturation of lungs, liver and kidneys, increasing
electrical maturation of the cerebral cortex, and then birth itself. Increasing
moral status is also marked by the bonding that results from the woman's
growing awareness of the fetus, and which, as the pregnancy becomes
increasingly obvious, extends to her partner, her family, and then everyone she
meets. This bonding with the fetus is the foundation for the responsibility she
feels for the welfare of the future child. Birth itself is a major moral event.
By ‘giving birth’, the woman confers to her new baby status as a person. The
baby, unlike the fetus, does not have an obligatory dependence on the woman,
and adaptation to extra-uterine life has necessitated sudden, radical and
irreversible changes in its circulation and respiration. British law supports
the view that the fetus is not a person at any gestation, and recent case law
has established that the consent of the woman is required for any intervention
in pregnancy that is considered necessary to benefit or to reduce the risk of
harm to the fetus. After birth, the baby is legally a person who, if not
provided with adequate care, has special protection under the Children Act. In
contrast to the fetus, the wellbeing of the child is the responsibility of both
parents and of society as a whole.
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