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The Ulysses contract in obstetrics: a woman's choices before and during labour
1Alden March Bioethics Institute, Albany Medical College, Albany, NY 12208, USA. BurcheP@mail.amc.edu
Abstract:
Women recognise that labour represents a mind-altering event that may affect their ability to make and communicate decisions and choices. For this reason, birth plans and other pre-labour directives can represent a form of Ulysses contract: an attempt to make binding choices before the sometimes overwhelming circumstances of labour. These choices need to be respected during labour, but despite the reduced decisional and communicative capacity of a labouring woman, her choices, when clear, should supersede decisions made before labour.
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