Index

One for the Lawyers

Does bad law shield a doctor who kills a woman?

Here’s one for the lawyersthe whole thing is insane to a regular person. So far, the question is hypothetical, but probably not for long.

Several states are on the verge or have passed laws that define a child as a human being at fertilization and make it a crime to end that pregnancy. These laws are not based in fact, only on the so-called “religion” of the ones pushing them.

What does the medical practitioner do if a potential patient presents with an ectopic pregnancy? If they refuse to treat the woman, it will kill her - this is a well-known and well-understood medical fact. The practitioner will have, in fact, murdered her since the treatment course for the condition is well known and long-established.

The question for the lawyers is whether the (insanely bad) state law is a defense against a premeditated murder charge. The doctor decided on a course of action that they knew would kill the woman and did so knowingly and willingly. The question is whether the legal system can find a way around this reality because of the lunatic law.

Assuming the doctor avoids prison or the death penalty for the murder charge, is s/he guilty of massive malpractice? Is his insurance obligated to pay claims arising from knowing and willing malpractice of this sort? We have to assume that there will be a wrongful death lawsuit, with the doctor as the primary defendant along with any medical practice and hospital s/he is affiliated with. Of course, another principal defendant is the state where the insane law caused this.

Should any doctor who does this automatically lose their board certification and/or medical license? This level of massive malpractice tantamount to murder should trigger an automatic loss of licensure with the doctor responsible for appealing.

These points make it sound like practicing medicine in a state stupid enough to pass one of these laws is hazardous in the extreme. The doctor either violates the law or murderously violates medical ethics. No state where one of these laws is passed should have any medical anything left. The state is putting the medical profession and its ethics up against an insane bunch of backward-looking anti-science idiots and deserves to lose all of those professionals.

Another legal question: preventing doctors from treating ectopic pregnancies creates de-facto death sentences. Isn’t there somewhere in some law that says that a sentence of this sort requires a trial by their peers and all of that? I am well aware that the people pushing these laws are also shredding the Constitution bit by bit, but the question has to be asked.

What if the doctor does follow proper medical protocol. Can the state charge him with a crime for saving the woman’s life? The obvious and knowing intent of the law is to kill the woman in this case - the lawmakers know because they have been told innumerable times about this. They can’t plead ignorance or poorly written law - they want dead women.

Does this mean that the courts will treat this as a legal intent and hang the doctors for being ethical medical practitioners? Is there no sanity left anywhere in the system?